To Start at the Stars
by Leaf and Quill
Summary: First fanfic for OSR! This takes place twenty years after the Oban race, if anybody's confused about time. Disclamer: The names Eva, Aikka, Oban, Nourasia, and Dol are the property of Sav! The World inc. Their personality after twenty years are mine.
1. On a Rainy Day

Rain poured down the streets and alleys of Dwol, Naurasia's royal city. Like it usually was on stormy days such as today, the cobbles and stone paths were deprived of any creature, but not for long. The side door to the palace walls was ajar, and a hooded figure slipped out into the drenched lane.

It was easy to see that the Naurasian was escaping; the shadow peering around corners, a bulky knapsack slipped beside a full quiver of arrows.

Anyone who bothered to peer outside their window would have thought today a perfect day to make a getaway; it was one of the very rare instances the Crog guards were all relaxing in the ruined palace. And so the figure ran on.

Sandals sodden, fifteen-year-old Princess Evika slid stealthily down the alleyways of her beloved city. For ten whole years, she had planned her escape from the invaders, the Crogs who had taken just about everything from her. Just about everything she owned, she had in the shrunken knapsack bouncing on her back. And yet, she had to leave them, her parents…_no, don't think about them now; don't turn back; they bid you go, slip away as fast as you can_…

King Aikka and Queen Eva of Naurasia were currently where they had spent their lives for the last ten years; put under lock and key in their own dungeons and constantly guarded since the invasion a decade ago. She, their only daughter, was a mere child of five when the attack commenced.

_Just a few more strides…_

They had only five minutes to try and escape, the three royals in the nursery. The memory still was a bright flare: Father ushering her into a door that led to a cramped room that materialized out of nowhere; the last face-to-face moment for years, kissing her forehead and asking for courage; the scabbard and band stuffed into her tiny hands as the door closed, seams evaporated, and her parents along with it.

_Not too far now…_

Her world was the memoirs in her grip: Father's dagger, honed to a deadly sharpness, and which she was now firmly satisfied to use now; and Mother's goggles, enriched with bedtime stories about flying in the mythical race of Oban. Eventually, her caretaker, Sicila, had opened the door into a changed palace, a dark reminiscent of her home. She had set a complex magic to tan her pale skin, brown out the dark locks, lighten and blue her irises; changing her to Malira, a humble servant of the Crogs.

_Almost there…_

Ten years. Ten eternal years of enduring will pressed on escaping punishment, cleaning on time, resisting the jeers of the hulking warriors now inhabiting the stone rooms. In between work shifts, the royal swords master, Zaviroa, had taught her everything she would have learned as a princess if not for the Invasion: manners, magic, physical fighting, weaponry, history, et cetera, but not flying for fear that they would get caught. She really didn't mind; she probably couldn't handle all those skills in the air; but sometimes she caught herself daydreaming about soaring free in the air, feeling the exhilaration that her parents had felt years ago.

_Just around the corner…_

Right after jumping out the Servant's Wing, she chanced the first physical meeting of her and her parents. A basic Naurasian sleeping spell brought her two minutes, enough to last a lifetime.

The two didn't look themselves; all thin, dirty, and, admit it, barely alive. It was bad enough on the mirror; knowing that this was _real_ nearly made her regret her choice. And yet she felt like the carefree five-year-old left in the nursery oh so many years ago when they recognized her and embraced her through the bars of their prison. Evika hurryingly told her parents about the escape, and, bless the guardian, they told her how to get to a safe haven.

Now she just had to get there through the deluge.

And there it stood; the slorion tree so dangerous in the gusty storm, flailing thin white limbs like whips. Breathing deep, she charged for the unnoticeable crevasse in the roots, closing her fingers around a…rock? As the twigs snagged on her hair not caught by the hood, she cleared the sticky clay from the round stone, revealing a white rock the size of her palm.

A symbol was carved in the marble: a small circle with a large oval on each side. Upon clearing away the dirt, the mineral began to shimmer, and then shine with a steady light. Evika began to feel light…

Princess Evika was gone from Naurasia.

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Don Wei was sitting in his home office; or more exact, office/bedroom. Even in his sixties, he still was managing Wei Race with a firm hand.

_Eva, why didn't you ever call back?_ he thought again for the zillionth time from the past decade. It was bad enough that nobody seemed to know anything about Naurasia at the moment, and he couldn't take the Intergalactic Express for work had to be done…

The air began to chill slightly. A small breeze swept around the room despite the closed window and door. Then a blast of light…

Don removed his arm from his eyes, then gasped in surprise when he saw a Naurasian face down in the center of the room, unconscious. He ran forward to see who it was, but flinched as he saw the brown skin change color slowly to a creamy white color, the brown hair beginning to streak black. Quickly turning the newcomer onto his/her back, he vaguely recognized the paling face of a fifteen-year-old girl. But then her cheeks started to blush.

The tinges of color strengthened into a stripe on her left cheek, a starburst on her right. Just like his daughter's left stripe and right star.

Her clothes were wet, but clearly Naurasian; pink goggles were tangled into her matted hair, and an over-stuffed backpack was rubbing shoulders with a quiver of arrows and a longbow.

_So familiar…_he thought. "Evika, is that you?" he gasped in surprise, staring at his long-lost granddaughter.


	2. A Tranquil Recovery

"_Run, Evika, run!"_

_"Why, Father, why? Is it because of the Tridents?"_

_"Don't talk, my dear, just run!"_

_The brass-marked door, the fear in the air, her parents, their last memoirs…_

_The darkness._

_------------------------------------------------------_

Light…softness…

_Wait, where am I?_

Evika shot up in bed, instantly regretting her sudden reflex as pain shot up her back. She fell back among the pillows of a comfortable bed, heart beating like hummingbird wings. Trying to recall those last moments in Naurasia, she closed her eyes in thought. Pictures sped through her mind: the drenching rain, the slorion tree, a marked white stone, her parents…what are they doing now?

_But first,_ she thought,_ where in the stars am I?_

However, the mirror beside the bed stand caught her eyes.

With the disguising spell worn off, she looked at the real Evika that had never seen the light of day for years. Cream-pale skin replaced the honey brown; her long brown hair more obsidian black than oak; and judging from the reflection, the blue-green eyes she was so used to were now a lilac purple; not to mention her cheeks were blemished by a starburst on one cheek, a long stripe on the other.

_Gosh, I look a lot like Mother._

Now, the room.

Pink gauze shades were reflecting most of the morning light, yet it was still very bright. Light this powerful hasn't been seen in her home planet since the Invasion. There was only one planet she had visited with the star so powerful: Earth.

Slowly getting to her feet, she got a face full of fuzzy carpet as she fell down, unbalanced. Eventually, her form became sturdy, and she peeked behind the shades…and nearly got blinded as she did so. The sun was already quite high in the sky; exceptionally bright for her pale eyes. Yet she pulled the cloth away to light up the room. Blinking away tears, she observed the room.

The walls were dappled pink and white, barely seen under an avalanche of pictures hung on the surface. Hand drawn bunnies were pinned around the borders of doors, and photographs were suspending everywhere else.

She limped to a group of pictures above a cherry wood desk. A smiling fifteen/sixteen year old teenage girl with short black and red hair was hugging a young Naurasian boy slightly older than she was.

Another picture was of the same female, all alone, in a black robe and a square hat. She was holding up a small roll of paper in triumph, very pleased with herself.

Other pictures portrayed different subjects: Naurasia, Earth, some other people, but mostly the girl growing up with time.

Then it hit her. She knew who the people were.

She was standing in her mother's childhood bedroom.

Suddenly, "Are you awake in there?"

Evika nearly fell over in surprise as an aging man walked into the room. He was no problem to identify. Even if the white bands in his hair had widened in size and some more wrinkles lined his tired face, how many times had he held her five-year-old hand during the visit to Earth; how many times had he been mentioned in the stories of Oban?

"Grandfather Don," she breathed.

Her grandpa smiled weakly, "Just Don, please. Adding 'grandfather' makes me feel too old."

A bit too late for that. "Y-yes Don," she whispered.

"None of that, my girl," he replied, coming closer to the bed she was leaning on. "Your mother showed much cheek around me. You already act like your modest father. Try and show more liveliness." With that, he turned around, ready to leave.

"Don?"

"Hm?" He turned around.

"Er, could you bring me my knapsack?"

He nearly tripped over. The simple, yet clear question made her voice sound like his daughter when she was her age. Walking towards the drawer, he pulled the top open and tossed Evika the rubbery sack inside, and winced slightly as the some of the loose contents spilled onto the bed: a brass headband, a bottle of ink, some quills, a small hand mirror, the rest being stuffed back into the bag.

"Um, one more thing, sir."

"Don."

"Don, can…I…"

"What?"

"Can I take a bath?" she blurted out.

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In a few minutes, she was soaking in a warm tub full of steaming water scented with herbs. This was the first time she felt so…comforted, soothed. The rosemary vapor seeped into her lungs; so calming…nothing can ruin this moment.

Every worry in her mind lifted away with the mist.


	3. A Mirror's Truth

It wasn't long after when Don found his young granddaughter wandering the house; nothing much had changed since Eva and her family had stepped foot in it ten years ago. And still the teenager observed everything with a keen eye, delicately fingering the dusty pictures hanging on the walls.

_Perhaps they are foreign to her,_ he thought, rather amused.

In reality, Evika had plenty of experience with the hovering chairs and the electric-warmed carpet. Her mother had not forgotten Earth that much, and had updated her daughter on the new information, even if they had never brought it. What piqued her interest were all the pictures of sealed, nearly forgotten memories.

The photos on the walls were of various travels the father-daughter pair had taken throughout the four years they had spent together. Below them, the drawers and tables were loaded with frames illustrating the trip the new family: Eva, Aikka, Don, and Erika; had taken just ten years ago. So many fond memories, so many carefree days…

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On the top of the stairs overlooking the pictures, Don was still establishing the fact that it was his granddaughter staring at the pictures; not his own daughter with long hair. With her back to him, it was very difficult to distinguish her from her mother. _She's _Evika, _not _Eva, _understand? Hard to, _he replied to himself.

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Crossing the hallway, she climbed the stairs to her room, passing a full-length mirror on the way. A reflection of a skinny, long-limbed female dressed in a patchy long-sleeved tunic and baggy pants wrapped around the ankle was portrayed on its surface for a moment before changing back to the bland white carpet and tan walls.

The light of the early afternoon lit up the pale pink walls as she stepped inside. No longer did her eyes feel like being knifed every time the brightness of the star seeped into her eyes, so she managed to get back with her sight still intact.

But as she caught her face on the bedside mirror, the shield holding back the painful memories of the day behind her surely did not match her sight; it shattered instantly.

Almost immediately, she was sinking in a deep well of grief-ridden waters. Sadness engulfed her every part, paralyzing her; threatening to petrify her. Even worst, voices amplified by the liquid flowed into her ears.

_It's hopeless…_

_Nothing helps…_

_They're gone forever…_

But through the haze of gloom, a faint yet familiar voice echoed around her mind, "_Evika, remember this: emotions are what you think; what happens is what you do_…" Aikka's voice faded away slowly, repeating the last six words.

Evika pushed herself up through the glue-like water, motivated by her father's long-ago lesson.

_Father, Mother, I will do it; I will save you; I will save Naurasia, _she thought as she broke the surface of the grey waters, and all went black...

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For the second time that day, Evika awoke abruptly in her mother's bed. The differences from this time and the other were that she didn't wake to pain, and that the star was now on the other side of the sky, nearly touching the distant horizon. However…

"Evika, are you awake?"

Once again, Don had appeared in the doorway.

"Dear, you are awake. You passed out on the floor. Is everything alright?"

"Yes sir…I mean Don."

"Good. If you're feeling okay, dinner's on the table. We can talk there."

"I'll come down soon; I'd like to try Earth food."

Feeling slightly woozy, Evika slipped out of bed. But she didn't plan on having dinner yet since her nightly meals were usually later. Instead, she walked to the knapsack sitting on her bed. Rummaging through her belongings, she felt a hard round disk among the clothing and pulled it out.

Sitting in her hands was a small hand mirror; about a hand's breadth on the reflective surface, winding down sharply to a slender handle of quar'z, the same metal used in the headband encircling her forehead right now. She passed a hand over the disk and muttered, "_Aumsicci flari cicl parien palmi_." The surface fuzzed, then sharpened to reveal her parents' faces once again. She quickly started talking, since the mind-mirror spell she worked was rather weak, giving her only about five minutes.

"Mother, Father, I made it; I'm here, on Earth!" she cried joyously.

"Good job, my dear. Now listen to your grandfather when we're go-" started Eva, but her husband cut her off. Evika felt a deep dread starting in the pit of her stomach, "G-gone? As in…" she pulled a finger across her throat; but her parents were busy arguing.

"Aikka, we can't keep it from her forever!"

"But…she'll try and save…"

"No buts! How would you like it if one day she'll try and contact us and find out the hard way?" Her mother was furious, all pink through the coating of grime, "I've felt that before, and I knew my father was _alive_. Tell her!"

Father sighed, "I'm deeply sorry to tell you this, but…" He looked around to see Eva glaring at him to finish, "…but I don't think we'll be together again. Not alive, at least." His head drooped lower in regret, the chain binding his neck clinking like a death toll.

"N-not together?" Evika nearly dropped the mirror with the wave of emotions starting to engulf her.

Mother spoke up, not a trace of anger in her voice, "I'm sorry, but they noticed _Malira_'s mysterious disappearance, the sleeping spell on our guards, put two-and-two together, and…well…put us to death in hopes of drawing you out."

"But why? Why do they want me?"

"As revenge."

"Oban?" She blurted out the first thought that came to her mind.

Father smiled, "Sharp thinking, child. You are half right; they do want you because _we_ beat them twenty years ago. Also, they want you because of your status as princess. If you live, you have a chance of bringing them down."

"But how? My magic is not strong, I cannot fly, I am no threat at all!"

"And yet you are the Princess; the child of two…captive royals. People will follow you, battle for you, _die_ for you. Your caretaker, Sicila, who just happens to be our food-bringer, has brought us news. Your people has renewed hope in freedom because of your escape."

The surface flickered; the connection was breaking.

"My dear child, Evika, we will be gone when the lune is dark," said Mother, "Take care, for you are not as helpless as you think. Your endow…"

A final flicker, and the only face in the mirror was her own.


	4. Nighttime Magic

Setting down the mirror, Evika threw herself onto the bed and cried into the pillow for a good five minutes. At the end of her tears, she pulled herself together and sat upon the bed. Outside, a full moon illuminated the houses below. _When the lune goes dark…_

Naurasia's days compared to Earth's is very awkward. Being a slightly bigger planet with a slower turning time, it has longer days and nights, but the moon phases of Earth's moon and L'aru, Naurasia's biggest moon, match each other perfectly.

_Two and a half weeks_, thought Evika. Two weeks to plan, perfect, and execute an escape, a salvation. A salvation of her people from the invading Crogs. Her mind blanked out with all the thoughts hyperventilating. All seemed impossible again. How was she, a fifteen-year old hidden Naurasian princess with no special talent, suppose to drive out one of the most powerful and dangerous forces in the galaxy? Even her parents at their youth required help from Jordan, whose transformation saved them and their planets; for the moment.

But she had nobody and nothing.

Feeling light-headed, Evika pulled out the scabbard and goggles from under the pillow; securing the band around the quar'z ring on her head, the belt around her waist. Receiving a slight sense of comfort, she unsheathed the light dagger with a _shhh_ing sound, observing its lightness and recalling the nighttime story that accompanied it; how after the Great Race, the Avatar, Jordan, had found the remnants of his comrade's weapon and had honored him with repairing it with strong magic; later placing it on the doorstep of her father's room, passing on a blade of light magic to Father.

_Maybe there's still some magic left?_ Never had she tried it, but maybe a test of magic would draw out some answers. Holding out the dagger flat on her palm, she spoke firmly, "Aumsicci pranier cas." Nothing noticeable happened.

Sighing with regret at the failure of her detecting spell, she tipped her head forward in a sigh, causing the loose band to slip down and place the lenses on top of her closed eyes.

It wasn't surprising to look into a pink world; the band always stayed too loose. What _did _catch her eyes was the only thing not tinged pink. Runes have magically appeared on the blade of the dagger on her lap, blazing gold.

First thought: _This isn't in Naurasian._

It was an ancient script written in simple dots and lines and curves. Just as she thought to get a translator, the lines and dots rearranged themselves into the Naurasian text she was fluent in. It read out into a spell: Aumsicci verin calbar ligh quall. _Strange,_ she thought, _why would a spell translating into 'bring up the light' be magically carved into my father's dagger?_

_I wonder if my parents knew?_

Thoughts swung in and out through the well of her mind, until one sure fact remained: Jordan (if he did do it) had written the spell for a female. 'Aumsicci' started spells for females; 'Umsicci' started males' spells.

Making sure that the spell was visible in pink, she repositioned the goggles back off her eyes, and looked at the blade with her naked eye. The words were nowhere to be seen.

_So most likely it was for Mother_. However, she knew that Eva rarely used the lenses for something other than habitual dressing. She, however, have given Evika many chances to turn her world pink. Dead end there.

_Perhaps Father?_ As unlikely though it be, perhaps Aikka was to find the spell for his life partner, but…he rarely shows the dagger. Like Eva, he carries it around out of habit, not for use. Coincidentally, he also shows it to his daughter on a daily basis. Nothing there too.

So if she was the only one who knew…"Only one way to find out," she said, "Aumsicci verin calbar ligh quell!" The effects were instantaneous.

A cry of surprise split the silence of the moonlit room as Evika shielded her eyes from the sudden burst of blinding light. For a few seconds, all was afire white, and then it faded gradually from sight. Waiting until the dancing spots disappeared, Evika came out from under her sleeves.

What a disappointment she felt when nothing had changed in her sight. But something must have happened, for how could nothing have happened when the spell made her feel weak and drained; the signs of powerful magic at work?

_What had happened in that flash of light? I'd better find out, _she thought.

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Light years away, across vast plains of stars and nebulas, a planet set in the center of the Milky Way galaxy stood alone. Above its surface, an oval stone building hovered amongst the clouds. A single figure stood on one of the jutting platforms of rock overlooking the heavens and the forest underneath.

The figure watched the vast blackness above him, and suddenly, a white flare erupted amongst the little pinpoints of light, changing form into a starburst with thirteen points. Golden eyes wide, the robed person ran back into the stone courtyard, passing into a blue circle inside a small stone building marked by eight lines ending in a curl.

Jordan the Avatar stormed into his private study. Fifteen years ago, his best friend had made him promise in a dream to keep her treasure safe until her newborn daughter needed it. He was to deliver it to her when her mark showed amongst the stars.

Moving around teetering piles of scrolls and books, he jumped to a small cupboard in a dusty corner and cracked the magical lock sealing it. The doors swung open to reveal a series of drawers. Pulling a ring fixed to the top drawer, it slid open revealing a small, battered wooden cube. Next to the block, a scroll sealed with a wax circle marked with two vertical lines ending in a small curl lay on a cushion, the paper slightly yellow with age. He fished the items out of their resting spot and placed them inside the folds of his multi-layered robe.

Finding his staff in a corner nearby, he took hold of the smooth wood and stared at the set of small curls adorning the top of the wood. Looking balefully at the purple, magenta, and white, he tapped the butt of the staff twice against the stone floor. Streaks of white light surrounded him, and Jordan disappeared.

Appearing on the top of the Flying Temple, he searched the skies for the starburst, and found a line of lilac magic like a string trail into the inky blackness. Flying up to meet it, he took hold of the end, and streaked through the sky, the magic gathering in his hand as he went.

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Evika searched everything. None of her surroundings had changed noticeably. Even in pink, the only difference was that the runes have faded from the dagger, which was too small a detail in powerful magic. The light acted like a sapping spell, draining her magic and putting it…nowhere. Searching through the sheets again, a feeling came over her…a fuzzy, familiar feeling…of magic.

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Jordan was floating above the white, blue, and green sphere of his birth planet, Earth. Mostly coiled into a ball in his hand, the yarn of lilac string kept going into the atmosphere. Shielded from sight, he sunk into the wispy skies.

It wasn't long until he saw the house. The simplicity astonished him; somehow he thought that the greatest racing manager on Earth had fancier lodgings; but then Don wasn't the sort to change too much.

Lilac was strung across his hand to an upstairs window. Finishing the ball of light, he peered through the half-closed curtains. He nearly fell over in the air at the sight.

Eva, in her one contact, had not described baby Evika. Even so, Jordan had half-dreamed how she and Aikka's child would turn out. What a shock he found when he nearly mistook the figure sifting through the bed as Eva during their first meeting twenty-some years ago, only with long, brown-streaked hair. He smiled, seeing that she had taken her mother's good looks.

Despite his calm, serious manner, he couldn't help thinking, "So where did Pretty-Boy hide himself in her?"

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Leaving the tingles bathe her in shivers, Evika stood up and looked around the room, hoping to seek out its source. She was about to go into the closet when the window unlatched.


	5. The Endowment

Out of habit, Evika reached for the dagger at her waist. Facing the now-flapping curtains still drawn on the opened window, she heard the sliding of the panels, and, in the shadow of moonlight, saw the silhouette of a large figure clamber in…and she also kept her eyes locked on it as the trespasser fell head-over-heels into the bedroom.

Still clutching the hilt in an attacking position, she edged forward to the wriggling mass of cloth, nearly tripping on a pole that had fallen from its hands. Following the wood to its end, her eyes flew up as she noticed the crystal at its tip. No Earthling, she knew, used magic that needed a channeling item like a staff. So who had invaded her grandfather's house?

Twisting her attention to the person in the cloth, she grabbed a corner and yanked as hard as she can. Unfortunately, she had found the hood, and had pulled the collar up to the person's neck. Letting go immediately, she left the person falling forward out of breath; but she noticed the mess of black and yellow hair that had fallen from the hood. Stories rung in her head about a certain Avatar that had the same hairdo twenty years ago…

"Jordan, is that you?" Evika whispered nervously, not letting the dagger fall yet.

The face below the mixed-up mane looked up, revealing a round face, thick, shining eyebrows, and most shocking, golden eyes. "Yes, it's me, Evika…it _is _Evika, right?"

"Um, yes." It rather was weird talking to one of the supreme beings of the galaxy; not to mention keeping her eyes on the vast golden ones opposite hers.

"Good; we don't have long," Jordan said, standing upright. On his feet, he was much taller than she had thought; nearly a head taller, in fact. "Oh, and I think this is yours," he said, tossing a ball of lilac light to her. Catching it, Evika flinched as the light soaked quickly back into her skin, rejoining the rest of the magic that wasn't used in the spell earlier. "But…how…why…?" she stuttered.

"You're not complete yet, as far as I know," he said simply.

"I'm not?"

"No, I don't think so; but I really have no idea. Well, maybe a hint…"

"So what do you think?"

Taken aback at the outburst, he hesitated a bit before answering, "I think you're missing your magic."

That was the last thing she had expected. She staired incredulously as Jordan continued, "If you could see magically, you would notice that you barely had a glow on your person, not too unlike Don."

"Hey, don't disrespect my grandfather!"

"Just saying; he has no inkling whatsoever of magic. It's rare nowadays, since many people have some piece linked inside them."

"Even…my parents?"

Jordan actually laughed, "Evika, _definitely_ your parents."

Evika ran back to those memories showing Queen Eva attempting to enchant an arrow, lighten up a room, et cetera; every time ending in failure and a few laughs. "But Mother couldn't use Naurasian magic," she said, confused.

"No, that's a different…genre of magic. Eva's magic is more…personal."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Er, difficult subject…"

"Try me," she said stiffly, crossing her arms.

Jordan took a deep breath, "Well, Naurasian magic usually is a physical form, that meaning that inner magic is channeled into physical items and persons. Your mom, however, has a spiritual form that supplies her with traits leading to her (cough) dangerous (cough) flying. Are you with me so far?"

"So spiritual magic makes us who we are?"

"No, not exactly. As I said, difficult subject." The two were silent for a minute. "But that's not why I'm here," he blurted out, reaching inside his robes, "I can't be away from Oban too long." Frustrated, Jordan dug around the multitude of pockets until he reached a hard object, "This was entrusted to me fifteen years ago to be passed on to you when you need it," he panted, pulling out the wooden cube hidden in the pocket, as well as the scroll accompanying it.

Placing them in Evika's still-crossed arms, he said, "Contact me _only_ if you need to. I only came here because of a promise made fifteen years ago, and the hourglass sand is slipping away. Good-bye, Evika! Nice seeing you finally!" And with that, he was gone in streaks of white light.

It was hard to believe that the visit had ever happened. But then what were an old box and an old scroll doing in her arms?

Sitting back down on the soft bed, she rested her wobbly knees as she put the perplexing items before her. She reached for the scroll box first, breaking the waxen seal on the lid embossed with the two swirls of the Naurasian symbol. The clear casing popped open, unraveling the yellowed paper inside. Careful not to rip it, she picked it up and started to read the two familiar sets of handwriting:

_Our dear Evika,_ it began in Aikka's loopy calligraphy,

_If your godfather Jordan has appeared suddenly, scaring you, do not be afraid because by now, there are things you should waste your fright on more than the kind Avatar. When we came home from the trip to your mother's birth planet, Earth, we heard that the Crogs had considered us potential targets. We did not tell you because of the chance of frightening you. Never had you liked the stories of the warring creatures at bed._

Mother's disjointed letters suddenly took over the note:

_Right after you were born, Evika, we, meaning your father and I, sealed away a great amount of your magic. It was amazing how much you had, just born and all that. We thought that it would make you less useful to any enemy of yours. That, and we didn't want the palace to blow up in one of your possible tantrums._

_Open the box to receive your lost endowment. If our worst fears are realized, take your magic and run. Do not worry about us; we'll be fine._

There, the ink stopped.

With a soft _flump_, the scroll fell to the sheets below. _Mother, Father, I'm sorry to disobey you, but I can not run away while you are held captive and our people suffer,_ thought Evika, suprising herself.

Invigorating thought in mind, Evika picked up the cherry wood box. It was a very ordinary cube of wood; a cube with tiny runes etched lightly at the seams. It also seemed to have no lid. Turning it around in her hand, however, she noticed a faded set of curls scratched on the surface of one side. Fingering it lightly, she dropped it on the fragile scroll when the runes started to glow.

A clicking sound came from the core of the wood, and then a small seam appeared around the cube, dividing it straight in half.

Gently picking it up, Evika pulled apart the two halves, and a shining something fell onto her lap. Rummaging around the sheets until something hard came to hand, she lifted out a carved piece of crystal. She gasped in awe at the little perfect rilla bird sitting in the palm of her hand.

The swan-like flyer was posed with its long neck high, elegant wings spread out ready to take off into Naurasian skies of mystical tales of long ago. It looked every bit like the magic-keepers they are; fresh out of Father's stories memorized in her childhood. And every night after such a legend, her dreams will set her on a soft feathered back, flying the lapis lazuli skies with no care in the world…

Unbeknownst to the daydreaming girl, the crystal started to shine.


	6. Recalling the Past

Her dreams atop the rilla bird's back swept her up among the clouds. Without warning, the warm feathered back let her go so that Evika was hovering a foot above the white puffs she was staring down at. Ahead, the magic-keeper was flying back to the suspended girl, looking deep in her eyes with a warm sensation following it. Closer and closer it came until the two were right in front of each other. Evika flinched slightly as long iridescent wings unfurled and embraced her.

Surrounded by down-like feathers, Evika noticed that magic was flowing from the rilla into her body. As the magic seeped from the bird, it became fainter, eventually slowing the stream of magic into a trickle, then none at all. The last warm feathers axsillated, throwing Evika into a state of slight alarm at the sparks. Concentration broken, she began to fall down through the clouds…

…back into her real Earth-bound body. Eyes wide open, she felt the sheets under her first, then the fiery explosion of pain coursing through every part of herself. Holding in her cries, she recalled an identical moment when she first used magic:

Zaviroa, the young swords master, finally took the job of his deceased father as tutor to Evika when she was six; a year after the Invasion. Noticing that she needed a spur to kick-start her inner magic, he had sent her a dose of pure magic, making her sore for days on end while she fought to balance the magic in her body.

_And that was only a spark, too_, thought Evika as she mentally moved the energy in place.

She had no track of time as the magic wormed itself into areas of needed stability. The full moon was halfway to setting when she finally picked herself up from the sheets, slightly fazed but able to stand…to a degree.

As she wobbled towards the stairs, her stomach growled. She smiled humorously; she just fought against spirit-crushing pain to control the greatest flood of magic she had ever seen, and suddenly she was hungry. How ironic.

_One foot in front of the other_, Evika thought over and over again, getting used to the circular staircase. Turning around one more time, she spotted Don sitting in the kitchen, surrounded by teetering stacks of paperwork.

Noticing his granddaughter limping down the stairs, he went to help, but pulled back as a spark blocked his touch again and again. She said that she'd get to the table by herself, thank you very much, so he went to warm up the soup.

Soon, the two were facing each other across the table divided by a steaming bowl of vegetable broth, the folders and flyers put aside. Evika found the simple dinner enjoyable, if not for the fact that Don was looking at her like a little boy eager for a story he knew to be upsetting.

"So, um, are you feeling better?"

Evika looked up from the floating scallions to see her grandfather concentrating his attention on her. "Well, what do you mean by 'fine'?"

"W-whether you're, uh, adapting to Earth without…you know…" His face broke down, body shaking slightly. Tired eyes urged her to tell him the reason for why his only remaining family hadn't contacted him in the last ten years.

Taking a deep breath and a small gulp of soup, she started, "Right after we visited you on Earth, the Crogs attacked us about five moon-waning later. I mean, months." Don gasped, but she wasn't listening, "It was horrible; the Leaf Fleet got wind of it an hour before the Invasion, yet…they were flying to their doom. Brave Nauli, calm Setril, and all one-hundred-and-seventy-eight of their comrades plus their steeds never returned alive, nor in one piece. Dol and Dwol were cities of blood and death that day."

"B-but…you l-lived…"

"Even we royals inside the so-called impregnable walls of Dol were no match for their cold steel Tridents. We had five minutes to escape. The three of us were in the nursery; Mother and Father hid me in a wall; they disappeared…and I was alone…" She looked up from shaking knees with tear-stained eyes to see that her grandfather was shaking even worst, eyes in a panic. "But they're alive…for now."

"For now?"

A nod, "They're to end their life when the Black Moon rises."

"What?" Even through the suffocating mass of fear and horror, he still felt confusion. He didn't know Naurasian terms in English.

"I meant that their light would short out when the new moon rises on the Red Cliffs."

"And…how long away is that?" Eyes wide, he gripped Evika's smaller hands in an iron pincer, dashing up from the wicker chair.

"Two weeks and five days!" she gasped, fearful of his sudden movement.

All hope seemed lost in his obsidian eyes; glass eyes shattering once again by the stones of loss. As his hands left her wrists, he sunk back into the chair, looking utterly defeated. "She's…gone. As good as dead," he shivered.

Completely bewildered, Evika took the silence to finish her soup and hurry back up to find a way back to Naurasia. She rose from her chair and proceeded to the staircase, but Don grabbed her wrist as she passed him. "Evika, what are you doing?" he whispered hoarsely.

Although she knew what he would say, she gave an honest answer, "I'm going to save Naurasia."

He looked up, eyes filled with tears, "Don't; you're safe here…"

"But I promised…"

"With your safety in mind, I forbid your going."

"You and my parents both. But my people need me; you can't deny that."

"But I just found you; I can't lose you, too…"

"There's a lot more than just us to worry about here," she replied in a sullen voice, edged in sadness.

Gasping in surprise, he let go of her hand. His mind took him to a world in the past so long ago…

Evika slid from his empty hands, leaping up the carpet. About to step onto the stairs, she looked back at her helpless grandfather, and he looked at her, too. Lilac met black for a moment, and in that space of time, Evika wanted desperately to run to him, to comfort him, to assure him that it will all turn out right. But she couldn't.

Painfully pulling away from the begging stare, she started the ascent of the stairs, turning back only once more to say softly, "I'm sorry."

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Don's eyelids drooped as his granddaughter left. He turned to the thick wall of pictures in the opposite room. Walking over, he plucked a photo off the walls; a picture of Eva, his dear little Eva, cradling her five-year-old daughter while trying to get her to smile. He traced her smiling cheek, whispering, "She acts so much like you. You should be very proud of her."


	7. Books and Mirrors

Author's note: Now that I have a USB drive or whatever it's called, I'm able to work on these during school, too. Expect the chapters to come more often.

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Leaving behind the tears, Evika stumbled back up the stairs. With the lights off again, she fumbled around the walls for a light switch, finally finding the small dial, and turning it a little bit. The candle-bulb lights fastened to the walls brightened in reply.

Turning to face the multitude of drawers, cabinets, and closet space, she began the search for a way back to Naurasia.

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After a long search around the room, in which she encountered many Earth oddities hidden in the storage spaces (not to mention the mountains of dust that just happened to explode in her face on contact with outside air), Evika wandered into the small storage space tucked next to the closet.

On opening, the room was revealed to be quite small; just big enough to tuck two of her inside. But all the space available was inhabited by white storage boxes. _Hmm, what's this,_ she wondered, sliding out a box.

The first box out contained Earth clothes, neatly folded. Placing the lid back on, she set it aside behind her.

The next box was somewhat more to her taste; piles of Naurasian clothes. Curious, she pulled one out. A sweeping gown flowed onto her lap, contrasting her patchy tunic like water and fire. Standing up, she noted that it was almost her size, maybe a finger too long. Putting it away, she set the box on her bed.

Lifting the next box out of its place, she nearly fell down with the weight of its contents. Keeping her grip on the handles, she eased it gently to the carpet, where its lid came off to reveal large volumes in covers of softened wood, embossed with Naurasian words. The top manuscript was titled: _Complete Text of Beginning Spells. _Evika grinned for two reasons; one was that she used the same book for her classes in magic; the other was that she had found the box she was looking for.

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Seven dictionary-sized books later, Evika was flipping through a title-less book of intermediate magic. Not finding any teleportation spells, she stacked it on top of the teetering pile behind her.

The last book in the box was a thinner rowan-covered text with, again, no title. Unlike the other slightly yellowed pages, this one was still somewhat green, still new within two or three years. That or it was very nicely preserved from the corroding air, being stuck under all the thick volumes.

About to part the pages, she noticed a small ribbon stuck near the end of the chapters. A small hope was growing in her fingers, and she opened the book to its spot. The silk ribbon shone in the light between two pages covered in writing dedicated to two-way portals.

"Bingo," whispered Evika as she started reading.

The chapter was mostly history, but she endured all the words about usage in the River Wars, how water was found to conduct very well, etc. Finally she came to the actual spell.

"Ingredients needed: A reflecting surface at least half the size of the portal user(s) combined, not including items; a sharp crystal hard enough to cut through reflector; a source of magic equal to person(s) and item(s); all the luck in the world," she read, smiling at the last part. She knew how dangerous it was to cast portals without proper magical supervision; and even so…

The reflecting surface could be the full-body mirror she passed on the way up; the sharp crystal could be an arrowhead; but what about the source of magic? Doing calculations in her head, she ended up with a rather big amount of magic. Looking around, she could see no physical item powerful enough to capture and hold that quantity of energy. Sighing, she tipped back a little…and cried out as the pile of books behind her toppled all over the floor.

Getting to her feet, Evika quickly swooped up the fallen volumes and placed them back inside their box. Reaching for the last one that fell half under the bed, inspiration struck her as she saw the small bird of carved crystal under the spine.

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_Step one: Remove any siding and/or decorations from the reflective surface._

Evika de-framed the mirror and propped it up against the bedpost.

_Step two: Using the cutting crystal, cut the biggest oval possible from the surface, but not all the way through._

Taking off an arrowhead, she ran the tip around the rectangle, leaving a blue-specked eclipse as she joined the ends.

_Step three: Power the source and lightly touch the middle of the ring with it._

She took the rilla bird in hand and closed her eyes as she sent energy coursing through the melted lines of the clear mineral. Opening her eyes again, she was pleased to feel strong magic radiating from its form. Turning to the mirror, she pecked the center with the beak of the crystal bird. A flurry of white light exploded from her reflection, subsiding until only the band of blue shone white.

_I've done it,_ thought Evika jubilantly. She checked the book one more time to see if the portal was looking right and the pages confirmed her thoughts. _By now, the cut edge of the surface should glow white. To use, place hand in while holding magical source, thinking strongly of where the user wants to go. Once the surface around hand changes to location, jump in and wish very strongly about getting there in one piece. To return, clutch the source and call out its teleporting magic, now fused within, and do the same thing.  
_

Happily looking at the portal, Evika began packing.

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Her bag was soon bulging with items hers and stuff from around the room. She had packed three sets of her mother's clothes, all tunics and pants; a book of matches found in a drawer; her sewing kit; two quills and paper; a satchel of soap found in the bathroom; and her precious mirror. Putting it all inside, she considered a bit and placed one of her old clothes inside on top of it all. Taking out her moneybag, she searched for any loose change that hung around and found some just about everywhere.

Keeping her old servant clothes on, she slipped a pocketknife (found in the closet) inside her sleeve, just in case. Also found in the closet, she curled up a cast-off blanket and tied it to her knapsack.

Tying the moneybag with twine, she tucked it in between the rags for silence. She lifted the rather-heavy bag and put it on, the blanket bouncing on her thigh. Practicing running with it on, her mind wondered on what to do once she was in Naurasia.

She knew she had to get to the forest, but teleporting right into it was a bad idea, seeing that many predators lurk in its mysterious shadows. Somehow, she had to get in by a side route, which made her think of the Northern Gate. The Gate was a small set of double doors lodged in the back of the palace walls bordering the forest. In her time, it was always guarded by a sleepy Crog guard who slept through the stone throws, the stick pokes, etc. It wouldn't be too hard to get past him, right?

In her mind's eye, she figured it out: she would teleport to the Servant's Wing a few steps away, then creep along the wall to the guard, then escape. It wouldn't be too bad, but she hoped that the patrols were late again when she got into the palace grounds.

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Cleaning up the room and making it all tidy, she wrote a note in the twilight: _Don, I'm sorry I had to go. May we meet again in calmer winds. Evika, princess of Naurasia._

Tears flooded her face as she cast the invisibility spell, making all of herself and her possessions vanish from sight. She faced the mirror, and gripping the crystal tight, slid her hand in. Her mind teemed with memories of the Servant's Wing, its darkness and rugged beds of wood on a stone floor. Suddenly, her memories came to life in the mirror. She could see every sheet, every tile, and every familiar mote of dust. Sighing deeply, she placed one foot in front of the other, gripping the rilla tightly between her fingers…

The mirror stopped shimmering as the dawn light swept the empty room.


	8. The Forests of Home

To her own point of view, Evika thought that traveling through portals were not too convincing. It was hard to believe that right now, frozen in an about-to-take-a-step-forward stance, she was flying thousands of light-years away; well, if she did it right, at least. All around was plain white; no stars in the tunnel she found herself in. And even if it felt as if time had stopped, somehow she felt that indeed she was moving rather quickly despite her frozen limbs.

On top of that, all the magic was making her nose itchy.

----------------------------------------------------

Hours seemed to fly past in a daze when out of the seemingly endless nothingness, a portal not too dissimilar from the one she had leapt into flashed into sight. It came closer, and closer, and…

Her body suddenly unfroze, the momentum of flying carrying her step forwards way too far, leaving her to fall face-forward on cold stone. Trying very hard not to cry out, she slowly struggled to her feet, looking around once again in the prison-like Servant's Wing.

Picking up her thankfully unbroken (and still invisible) bow, she strung an arrow onto it and walked outside into the smoky night. Listening carefully, she faintly heard rambunctious noises coming from the far-off dining hall; a sign that she was very lucky to have come during the only time the palace grounds were mostly devoid of life.

With this thought assuring that she wouldn't get caught within the next five seconds, Evika hastened out into the open night and slid against the palace walls, merging stealthily into its overcast shadow. She cursed silently as she spotted the tip of her still-visible shadow along the edge of the silhouette. Unable to cast the spell vanishing it too, she slid along the rough sandstone and lava rock to the back of the land, where, as usual, the ivy-ridded gate stood with a guard in front. But there was one slight difference. "Oh, great Natura," sighed Evika.

The guard was awake. Whenever she usually saw him, his half-collapsed form fast asleep in the starshine never had brought a sweat to her brow; but somehow, standing nine feet tall in half-armor and wielding a wrist blade shining coldly in the moonlight made her nearly think twice about her plan. But she had to move on.

Carefully aiming the drawn arrow at the bulky giant, she whispered, "_Aumsicci nuriar sephe_." Watching the tip sparkle, she let loose, watching its descent on the bare shoulder of her target.

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_This is stupid_, thought Zaviroa, and then cursed himself for saying so. Knights never used that word, much less the royal swords master. What would his father, Canaan, think of him from behind the Woodpast Gates? But then, the situation is one to be cursed forever and ever no matter who did it.

Earlier that day, Sicila, one of the previous keepers of the Naurasian palace (not to mention one of the better spellcasters of the area), had come across him cleaning the black steel weapons in the arsenal. After a desperate plea for assistance and having him agree to the task, she had changed him into an enemy Crog! Strangely enough, nobody seemed to notice that the real guard was fast asleep, stuffed into a closet somewhere in the basement, and that the young servant always working with weapons was missing.

While marching back and forth in the silver light shining from the fullness of the larger moon, he felt a very light prickling at the nape of his neck: a sure sign of someone practicing Naurasian magic nearby. Twisting around, he had a brief sight of sparks when he was knocked painfully on his back, a blue-tipped arrow suddenly appearing on his bare shoulder.

Breath knocked out of his lungs, he panicked for a second, and then started getting tired..._a sedation charm?_ He instinctively cast a spell-slowing veil, then a water-sight spell enabling him to see past all mirages and invisibility enchantments. From his position on the ground, all he could see of the escapee was a head of long black and brown hair as the owner ran past, running for the gate, slicing the old vines away and running through, shutting the doors silently.

As his eyelids drooped down, all he could think about was of his assailant. He knew only one Naurasian-spells caster with black hair like that.

"No wonder you told me to come, Sicila. The Princess is back in Naurasia," he whispered, falling into a dreamless sleep.

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Making sure that the gate behind her was secure, Evika turned tail on the stone walls and sprinted into the moon-bathed trees of the Silver Forest. Quietly leaping from branch to branch, she headed deeper into the forest, finally stopping in a small clearing with a tributary of the nearby river running through as a crystal stream. As her father used to do, she shimmied up the nearby shield-leaf tree and pulled herself to the top, knapsack and all.

At first, she learned of the namesake of the forest as she gazed around the bright canopy of the moonlit trees around her, but off somewhat on her right was a distant structure of white. Evika smiled as she judged about a half tiere between her and the city walls; not too far, not too near, and not too deep in. At her back, on the other side of the forest, was the sprawling town of Dwol, supporting Dol with goods from all over.

Going back down to the large limbs around the middle of the shield-leaf she was perched on, Evika arranged the flat, broad leaves scattered around the outside of the tree into a tent she could hide in. Moonlight shone through the sparse openings of her work, enabling her to slowly work her way down to the forest floor, where she cut various stringy plants and wove them all into a malleable mat large enough for her to sleep on. Carrying the springy rectangle, Evika bounded back up the shield-leaf, using more vines to secure the four corners onto the limbs of the tree, finishing with a light green hammock hanging before her.

Slowly easing herself on, she smiled to see that it held her weight nicely. The limbs around her became the areas her possessions sat on. Uncurling the tightly rolled blanket she brought with her, she drew it across her tired form and instantly fell asleep; face speckled with the light of the quickly waning full moon.

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**Author's Note**: If you're confused with the "Naurasian" vocabulary that I decided to include:

_...great Natura _(Paragraph 6): One of the Naurasian goddesses

_Starshine_ (Paragraph 7): Sunshine

_Woodpast Gates_ (Paragraph 9): The "Gates of Death" Naurasians pass through to die, good or evil

_Tiere_ (Paragraph 16): Rough equivalent of a mile

Yes, I made them up. The usual terms just seemed too...Earth-like to me. Honestly, what are the chances that Naurasia would call their star the "Sun"?


	9. Planning in Town

Starshine drifted onto the figure sleeping among the branches as morning awoke in its entire splendor; or tried to, fighting the heavy amounts of smog carpeting the skies.

Evika awoke slowly in her woven vine hammock. Sighing, for she had not had such a rejuvenating sleep, she didn't pay attention to where she was and ended up smacking her forehead onto the limb in front. Clutching her headpiece, she flumped down back onto the rectangle, all the memories coming back from last night.

Completely awake now, she avoided the low-lying limb and slipped down the tree. About to reveal herself to the outside, she listened closely for any sign of spies. Satisfied with only the morning noises coming to her ear, she stepped out. The little glen was bathed in starshine, the stream shimmering with the early light able to filter through the smoky clouds.

Cleaning her face and arms, Evika stood up wet and walked into the forest for breakfast. The early spring rains had made the various plants sprout earlier than usual, working well to Evika's advantage. She returned early with enough surplus for midday meal, raising meal, and moonlight meal. After burying them near the tree for freshness, Evika went to relax up among the trees.

Sitting there, high above, made thinking easier for the young princess. She turned her thoughts onto the matter at hand: her parents.

There was only one way down to the dungeons where the King and Queen were kept. The path is regularly filled with twenty-five patrols changing shifts in the labyrinth within twenty minutes of each other. All are armed and _very _dangerous. And even if she did get past them somehow, she needed to find someway to break out her parents. Their cell had fifteen keys that are allotted to fifteen different guards all over Naurasia. So somehow she needed to shatter the metal without making an alarm bell of it. And no known metal has been able to even dent the horrid material, to boot. Then after that she still needed some way to get her parents out safely, for most likely the two would be too weak to take a step outside.

_It would be a miracle if I successfully took them out of their nightmare,_ thought Evika,_ but I will succeed, or die in the attempt!_

Despite the strong sureness, Evika couldn't help feeling that she was going to see the Woodpast Gates sooner than expected. Confidence ebbing away, she scurried down to the forest floor in case her strength fails her also.

Settling to watching the glistening stream, no clear thought jumped to mind until she realized that she had nothing to go on. Servants rarely get news. So where better to get information than…_Oh, no you don't, _cried the reluctant part of her mind_, don't even _think_ about going into town. Your face probably is posted all over town with the word "WANTED" in capital letters beneath it!_ "But do they need to see my face?" mumbled Evika, the familiar disguising spell working itself up her body.

-----

The market of Dwol saw a new face that day; a young female Naurasian chatting secretly with various merchants. She had no chance of being scared of guards, for it just seemed as if she was simply bargaining with the sellers. But nothing was farther from the truth.

Evika was wandering the cobbled streets in one of her mother's simpler dresses, made scruffy by sewing on patches of cloth torn from her servant's shirt and thrown in water, then dust, making the dried muck convincingly real. Her efforts paid off when the other townspeople seem to be sporting identical outfits.

Already she was gathering ideal information for her benefit. However the Crogs enforce them to their will, the old ways are still kept secretly, especially the preservation of royalty; some people she chatted with actually wanted to go gather up a riot and storm the dungeons if it wasn't for the danger of it.

Other signs were well developed: many of the citizens familiar to the gods of the area showed it during her talks with them. Most made the four-finger cross signaling Natura's blessing. Some farmers curved their fingers for Aural, god of rain. The most noticeable was the occasional open-hands crossing at the wrist for Mauppe, the god of fire and anger.

What Evika now didn't know was that after she replied to a Natura's blessing by crossing two of her fingers, the reaction usually only known by royals, she was followed from the rooftops. The shadow lurked in the thatched covers the entire time she was in town, leaping into the forest after her as she took to her temporary dwelling in the silver-washed trees.

-----

Evika couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed. The shadowy mist was enveloping her, smothering her, cutting her off from the moonlight that was her only beacon. Going down a hill, she turned back to see if indeed someone (or thing) was following her into the silent night alone. A twig fell to the ground as her eyes swept the rough road around her. Was it her mind, or did a pair of eyes just shine at her from that tree right there…?

Unable to take the pressure anymore, she began to run. Picking up her skirts, her feet barely touched the ground as she turned into the wilderness around the river so familiar. Turning a while to see her possible pursuer, her legs quickened as she spotted the shadowy figure leaping above her in the trees. Taking her dagger out of its sheath, she turned fully around and threw the sharp blade like a dart, catching the cloaked person in the shoulder and turning him around, slamming him against a tree. It sank to the ground as Evika ran towards it to retrieve her precious weapon.

Pulling it out of the person's shoulder, curiosity showered her as she looked at the hooded head facing away from her. So after making sure he/she was unconscious, she peeled away the thick cloth to reveal a head of earth-brown hair below a small front crown worn by royal swords masters, as the long sword on the crystal suggests. And the cut below this particular gem looked familiar…

"Oh, Natura. Why, why did you follow me, Zaviroa?"

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Vocabulary not explained in context:

-Starshine (Para. 1): Sunlight

-Midday/Raising/Moonlight Meal (Para. 4): Lunch, afternoon meal, and dinner. Four major meals total, while we have three..

-Woodpast Gates (Para. 8): Naurasian "Gates to Death"

-Natura (Para. 13): Most important entity to Naurasia; goddess of life and assistance


	10. Tutor and Student

_Drowning in the night no longer velvet, but a metallic drape of inky black water…Streaks of red battering the miniature quar'z statue of the magical nauraya…well, it isn't a statue for it was actually flying blindly through the lightless dreamland…_

_As it turned around, suddenly a small speck of amethyst light started to shimmer from the back of the nauraya, growing bigger slowly until even the wing case spirals shimmered brightly. Suddenly, the sphere of magic expanded amazingly fast, shattering the empty darkness into nothing, releasing the nauraya into the open sky._

_And all could see that now it had a rider…a Naurasian rider…a beautiful, black and desert-brown haired someone wielding lilac magic…_

---

As starshine lay on his tired face, Zaviroa slowly awoke in a shield tree he wasn't familiar with. Unbeknownst to his still-groggy mind, the dream he just experienced slowly sunk deep into his memory, out of sight, as instead the scents of the forest took over his senses. Below him was a small hammock of woven vine, and as he bent forwards to get up, a branch came out of nowhere and whacked him on his forehead. Clutching his aching head, pain in both his shoulders erupted, dropping him like a stone back onto the vines when suddenly…was that giggling?

Pain forgotten for a while, he turned over to see who was mocking him when he came face to face with Princess Evika, head bowed low trying to conceal the spasms and squeaky chuckles. Eventually, she actually ran to the stream and battered her face with water, freeing her from the restraints of holding in humor. Her face turned starset red when she noticed that he was awake and staring at him.

"I-I'm sorry for disrespecting y-your status, sir. Please forgive my insolence." It surprised Zaviroa that despite all the times she "disrespected his status," she still stuttered over the traditional forgiving. But he had no time to think it all through because his mind was scrambled like eggs over Evika's brief humor spell.

It's surprising how, in the ten years he'd been her secret tutor, she had never shown her obvious funny side to him. Sure, there were the numerous pranks played on his unsuspecting person, but she always had slipped away before showing vocal recognition of her surprised, angry, and/or annoyed (and most likely dirty) victim.

Now that she had no way of escaping, the giggle that had showed its smiling face just for a moment had stunned his mind very nicely. The innocent sound triggered memories of the Naurasia before the Invasion; a peaceful, shining, green and blue planet of honorable people, both young and old. The skies were full of youngsters connecting with their nauraya companions; the royal family looking over all…_Very funny, Zaviroa_, he said to himself silently,_ you can't squeeze the entire spirit of Naurasia in one single person, even though she just happened to be the princess…_A flicker of a memory played in his head; a Naurasian rider on a nauraya…

"Zaviroa; can you hear me? Don't give me the silent treatment just because I laughed at you."

"Eh? Oh, I'm sorry for that. Um, so yes, I forgive you, Evika. Try and keep your manner next time."

---

_This can't be the Zaviroa I taught under,_ thought Evika, curiously watching her usually balanced ex-tutor slide from the tree and onto his behind. This time not even batting an eyelid, she walked over and pulled the unsteady Naurasian onto his feet. Blushing faintly, Zaviroa leapt to his feet, just to stiffen with the pain in both his shoulders. "Oh, and I know about your right shoulder being hurt; sorry about that," she added, "But what happened with the other shoulder?"

Zaviroa was a bit hesitant with the answer, not willing to tell her about last night, and then finally didn't give anything at all. "I'll tell you later," he said. Evika didn't press him any farther. So she proposed that the two of them go take a walk in the forest while foraging for their breakfast, which he accepted right away…after washing in the stream, changing into lighter clothes, switching bandages…

While waiting for her picky (and right now, slow) gathering partner, Evika decided to try some target practice; something she'd not done in quite a while. Gathering skinny twigs the length of her usual arrows, one by one she let them into the air in quick succession. With a last second thought, she shot the last one under her arm, behind her into the shadows of the woods. She was scared out of her wits when a sharp cry came from the place she just struck at. Turning around, it was hard to suppress a slight giggle when she saw Zaviroa bent over with pain; a long twig between his legs. "L-let us get going," he choked, wincing a bit.

---

"Isn't the harvest rather thick for this time of the year?"

"Have you been stuck in the palace all the time? How could you not know that?"

"Well, yes I've been stuck inside the palace all this time. How could _you_ not know that?" Evika was getting very irritated with the know-it-all in armor trotting beside her. Her tired arms were squealing with joy as they stepped into the glade again. Dumping the fruit and roots on the ground, she sorted out the raw edibles to eat first. Unfortunately, Zaviroa was also on one of his talkative moods, so any hope of seeking out silence in concentrating was wiped out.

Eating in silence (for Evika tossed a swelliberr in his food to shut him up for a while), Evika asked the questions while Zaviroa wrote out answers in the dust.

"Why were you following me?" _I thought I recognized your eyes._ "I know I can't change that by myself…"

"How'd you get into town anyways?" _It's easy; the side wall nearest the garden has five loose blocks. A simple copy spell and I have a day off.._

"But using copy spells hurt." _I know, but the situation was desperate. It wasn't about you, but I needed to find a member of _(pause) _my group. _

"What group? Zaviroa, have you gone rebel all of a sudden?" _Who isn't? Just about everyone's in Libertas…"_

"There's an organization named 'fish'?" Zaviroa choked; probably trying to laugh. _Wrong language, Princess. It's one of those Earth languages; Lapin or something like that, meaning 'freedom'._ _Ooh, don't make me write anymore, my hand hurts._

"Alright, but after twenty minutes we're having a little chat, do you hear?" _Who's disrespecting who…?_

"Sorry for disrespecting, um, your status, sir. Please forgive my insolence," she said almost lazily, "Ooh! Almost got it right."

Zaviroa silently finished his meal.

---

"So what do you want to do?"

"Well, I don't know. Can you make my tea?"

"What's in it, if it'll only make you stop talking so much?"

"Uh, basil, rosem, quarry grass…"

From there, it was a very simple brewing, except for one part: entertained by nothing but endless talk while sorting out the ingredients, Evika finally lost her temper. "Gee, can't you talk about something useful?!?"

"What's more useful than how to make arrows?"

"How about something I don't already know?!"

"Uh, what about Libertas?"

"That'll do."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vocabulary:

-Quar'z (Para. 1): The metal that Aikka's headdress is made of; very rare and magical

-Nauraya (Para. 1): What I call G'dar's kind

-Starset (Para. 5): Sunset

-Swelliberr (Para. 18): Fleshy berry that, when eaten, makes vocal cords stiffen, cutting off speech for up to half an hour.


	11. Libertas

Midday starshine was passing through the glade where two Naurasians sat, one brewing, the other about to tell a story that was supposed to stay secret for all except the "most worthy", as Zaviroa's superiors put it. It felt strange talking about Libertas without lying, coding, or low voices; just as if it was only a story and nothing else. But it was much, much more…

"On the day we finished your baton lesson, I had a feeling of niceness and decided to sneak out; not by copy spells and so such, but actually disappear for a while since I had my hour off that day…"

"You snuck out?"

"Um, yes…"

"And you didn't bring me along?"

"Well, your safety is lessened outside the palace walls," he said, but looked at Evika's stiff face practically yelling out _Well, I wasn't really a novice by the time you decided to break the rules_, and added, "Besides, I wanted to make it a surprise."

"Sure, but I never received a gift anywhere close to an iron-core baton or something…"

"Actually I wanted to get you a blade baton; nice and nearly weightless for your…light muscle tone…" Evika glowered at him, "But I got distracted on the way to one of the still-open armories."

"On the way there, I saw a young fellow running across the thatch roofing like there's no tomorrow; it probably was that way since below in the stalls, a Crog guard was in pace with him, but as he swiveled onto a set of roofs in a tight alleyway, the Crog left the chase; pickpocketers weren't worth chasing. Huh, the fellow had picked up quite a few blades from the Crog's deep pockets; got a sheath along with it."

"And how did you know what he had stolen?"

"He fell from the roof he was standing on." Evika knew that the roofs were very high up in Dwol, nearly nine feet tall in some places, and asked, "Did he live?"

"Of course he did. I reached him in time and tied up his broken ankle nice and neat. He looked at me for a while, then asked me to go all over town with him; what a walk, but it eventually led to their base."

"So you're saying that Libertas's base is actually in Dwol?"

"It's underground, Evika. One tunnel actually leads right up to the palace kitchen all the way in Dol."

Evika's eyes brightened, "Then may I join? I'll have a way better chance to rescue Mother and Father when I've got really trained people watching my back and…"

"No; as your guardian and vassal, I say no. The crown princess of Naur-"

"I _was _the crown princess of Naurasia; now I'm hunted and wanted dead by one of the most brutal empires ever created in this galaxy. Don't you think I'll have a better chance of surviving while I'm among trained fighters?"

Zaviroa had no answer. He finally chose to lead her into town…after having his tea, of course. "I might accidentally spill some information in town and get arrested for it," he complained, showing a very rational situation.

"Go ahead, drink. Do you want me to change?"

"Change your looks, at least. I'll lead you around as a street urchin that I thought would be good for Libertas."

"Alright, but I'm not holding your fat fingers."

"Evika…"

"Humph; I'm sorry…um…for disrespecting your status. Please forgive my…insolence."

"See, you're getting there."

"With you around, I'll get plenty of practice," she said, infusing feeling into every syllable.

While she walked into the shadowed trees, she heard Zaviroa call after her, "And I don't have fat fingers!"

---

Two hours later, Evika; or, right now, Beryl; was led around seemingly random points of town. So far, she had looked into a drain (not to mention spoken in it) on the market sidings, rubbed the foot of a mosaic mind-boggler made of feet and hands, and now she was waiting for Zaviroa to get pastries from an old lady. "_Beryl_, eat. We've got a long way to go," he suddenly said, holding out a dusty fruit pocket. She looked at the crumbly pastry with hesitant eyes till she saw that Zaviroa was eating a turnover seemingly older than hers. So she took a chance and bit into the dust.

It actually was pretty good; the dust being some sort of light sugar, she supposed, but just as she licked the crumbs off her fingers (ten years of being a servant in the palace showed her that), Zaviroa dragged her over to a tree standing beside the stand. It was old and craggy; rutted with ridges and broken areas of bark; and she knew why to the latter. Her ex-tutor (or just tutor, seeing that he was her guide) broke off a piece of crumbly bark and dragged her across town _again_ to Aeria Park; a familiar place of her childhood, even through the yellow grass and leaf-bare trees.

"Stand close to me, now," he said as they ran into a thick meadow of tall grass. Hidden well, she watched him draw the bark around them in some sort of rough eclipse. Once the two lines connected, a small portal opened beneath the two of them, and they vanished within.

The pale blue light too weak to penetrate the grass faded after the last strand of hair vanished through.


	12. Inside a Base

The portal was different from the one she created not so long ago. For one, she was fully able to move; doing back flips around Zaviroa while he looked on humorously. For another, the walls were iridescent; a rainbow of colors swirling like someone dumped a variety of dyes in a field of whirlpools. But it didn't last long enough when the two were catapulted out of the twinkling tunnel into an underground cave.

Evika didn't even get a chance to breathe before having spears thrust around her like a collar. She stiffened, and looked to Zaviroa for any help. He too was in the situation, but the guards around him relaxed after he did something with his hands. Walking over to his glowering student, he pressed into her hand a small ring of something like twine. Slipping it on her fingers, however, she felt no flexibility about it. The spearmen (or women?) relaxed their weapons right when the stone-hard twine was on her pinky finger. They bowed, and then poked a section of wall that disappeared into a hidden pathway.

Walking into the candle-lit corridor, Evika couldn't help reminiscing about her bedtime stories of hidden bases of heroes and comparing it to the pathway she was trotting on right now. Sure, she'd thought briefly about how real bases looked like, and so far she wasn't really awed. The next room wasn't better than the last, _and_ it was a dead end. Their pathway led into a circular room with slightly higher ceilings than the one they just left; very plain and unimportant-looking. "Um, Zavi," she said, using his false name, "Did we get the right building?"

After Zaviroa didn't answer, she practiced her 'peasant talk'. "Say something or I'll get you out of here," she said, lowering her voice and taking on a dangerous tone. It wasn't pleasant, but it was necessary if she wanted the bogus image to hold. The person beside her smiled. "The magic words if you want to survive in a silent world," he chuckled, reaching for a pocket in his shirt. Evika stared as a slim brass wand-stick was drawn out into the open.

She just watched as Zaviroa slowly approached the left side of the circle room and started tracing an eclipse on the wall, somehow leaving sparkling marks in its wake. Once the oval was done, he traced some letters on the center of it all. Being in the center and not by her tutor's side, the etchings were hidden to her, but the flare of light seconds later sure wasn't. The traced lines axcillated, throwing sparks into the hollow, but stayed silent. As the sparkling words faded, the oval in the wall brightened into a hoop portal (portal seen as a traced line only; used for short portal transfers) big enough to accumulate the both of them together. "Ladies first," chuckled Zaviroa, doing a mock bow to her. "You're so…" she began, but never finished as the hand used to leading her in shifted and shoved instead.

---

Evika landed unceremoniously on her behind, jumping up with the cold creeping through her pants. Zaviroa slid out seconds later, landing on his feet like one of those Earth cats, she thought. Her attention was diverted almost immediately when a loud, booming voice shot like an arrow into her ears. "Sit down, the both of you!"

Spotting a chair nearby, she dashed into it, nearly falling off for extra peasant effect. But overdoing the motion, landed again on the freezing stone. No one made a sound as she hobbled up, not pretending in the least bit. "So, clumsy as well as stupid."

Evika stiffened, turning her head ever so slowly at the insulter. For a small guy, he had a big voice; and perhaps a big temper, too, for again he opened his mouth to let loose a tsunami of offending phrases. Everything from lousy balance to half-deaf ears was washing over her; wave after wave of it. Inside, she knew she should be mad, pretending to be a peasant and all, but she just couldn't find the will to…

"And Zavi? You bother to bring this half-starved skimpy idiot to my desk? Look at her; a big mess of no use; just a person who uses up our breathing air…" he stopped in mid-insult as a flash of lavender surged forth and bound him to his chair, gagging him also. Evika was holding out her hands, furious at the person who dared to insult Zaviroa, the only friend she had in the palace those last ten years. Waiting the usual five seconds, her hands beckoned to the magic, pulling it in like a silken cord running through her dusty fingers. Once done, she sat down again in the quiet.

For the moment, it was a loud silence, ringing in all their ears as the astonishment began to melt away. The Naurasian at the other side of the desk broke the fragile hum, reaching under his feet to bring out a small bundle of paper. Three sheets were in it; a map, a set of rules, and a schedule. Next to her, Zaviroa cast a memorizing spell and locked the information inside her head, also making sure that she could never spill it by accident. He also handed her a brass wand-stick like his own.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier."

She turned around to see him sitting serenely in his chair, his voice as normal as anyone else's. "I had to give you that treatment to bring out your magic so I can test it. You passed…now get out of my sight."

---

Evika hurried away before he could change his mind, following the map in her head to an earthen tunnel. Behind her, Zaviroa stepped up. "Head to the branch dormitories and adjust to your roommates before dinner; I've got business to do. Oh, and your stuff is already up there, so change if you can."

As the young teenager walked away, dislodging dust as she trailed her hands over the stone, wood, and mud walls, Zaviroa heard footsteps behind him. There was no need to turn around to know who stepped with a light foot and created echoing noises at the same time. "Hello, Ansel," he said, rotating in place to face the young magic tester he just left behind. "Zavi, we need to talk," he said, panting and pulling his coat towards one of the hiding cracks everywhere in the base. Squeezing in, he lodged himself onto a rock while Zaviroa stayed on the ground. "So what do you want of me?"

"That girl; where did you find her?" Zaviroa stiffened in the dark, hoping that the magic cloaking spell on Evika wasn't the reason for this chat in a crack. "In the market. She was stealing from a baker and I saw magic when she attempted to get past me with some conjured knives."

"You're lying."

"What makes you think that?"

"The fact that I got hit with her magic."

"So?"

Ansel turned his head up away from Zaviroa's face. "I know her type. Magic from the peasant/thief area is usually extreme red; royalty has extreme blue, and yellow belongs to the high magicians. She's just in the middle of all three; purple a combination of peasant and royalty, with traces of gold seen only by people like me, natural magical detectors."

"It's not brown?"

"You don't get it, don't you? She has the most unusual magic just about anyone can see. Does she have any family or anything?"

"From what I can get out of her sleep talking: Her parents are jailed for resisting the Crogs, she's been living the streets since about three years ago, and she found her magic around the same time." Lies slipped easily from his lips in order to protect his princess, coating his mouth in a mix of bitterness and relief. Ansel, however, wasn't taking it in.

"No, you're lying to me somewhere. You've seen how thieves react to my bellowing; a hail of magical needles flying at my face."

"That's why I was quiet when the gag silenced you."

"But things like that are very hard to do, gagging someone while making sure that the magic doesn't creep down and away. How do I know? Well, it took me five entire moon-turns to learn it! Five _months_ of learning. And I'm a fast learner. You're hiding something, Zavi; I know it inside."

---

While her tutor and his friend were having a conversation behind her, Evika had followed the narrowing passageway farther and farther into the base. By the schedule in her head, it was just a few minutes till the end of the training period; a few minutes till the passageways become so stuffed up with people moving through would be like forcing a finger into a needle's eye.

Turning a corner, she encountered a single slab of rock on the other side, marking a dead end. Racking the new information for ideas, she remembered the small circle marks on the dead ends, the legend saying that they are where you can make hoop portals. Drawing out the brass wand-stick from her sleeve, she traced out a large, skinny eclipse, and wrote out the words 'branch dormitories' backwards and up to down. Like earlier, the shimmering parts brightened and vanished into a portal. Holding her breath, Evika walked through.

Opening her eyes, Evika had to adjust to the darkness. Peering into the inky blackness, she found one of the crystal lights around the cave and lit it. A small light beamed from the pyramid stuck in the wall, illuminating most of the room.

It was very tidy for having about twelve beds stuffed in a three-by-four order with a single drawer between each. A trunk sat at the end of each bed, and Evika spotted her knapsack sitting on one of the sheets. Moving silently between furniture, she went to her spot and looked in her trunk and drawer. The wooden box was empty, but there was a small sand clock in the top drawer. Checking its magic, she noted that it tells the time between schedule events no matter how long or short they are. The last grain of sand fell to the bottom bulb and inside the glass sphere, and then the two bulbs switched with the sand falling faster than last time.

In no time, the portal area shone again and eight other girls shuffled through. It wasn't hard to spot her with the crystal light on her face.

"Hello there; are you new?" asked one of the girls that came over to see her. Evika could only nod as each magical person pressed in on her wall-side bed. "Oh, so what's your name here?"

"B-beryl," she stuttered. Another girl started talking in a slower tone, as if Evika was just learning the Naurasian language. "My name is Aural, she's Basil," she said, gesturing to the girl that first talked.

"Tanyai," A girl with long brown hair in two braids waved.

"Denali," Someone that looked like Tanya's older sister, only with three braids, tilted her head.

"Sapphire," The short-haired girl beside Aura shuffled a bit.

"Faithful," Another short-haired, green-eyed girl on a bed on the other side of the room looked up.

"Cherry and Apple, identical twins," Aura finished, and two red-brown haired girls moved closer. "Got it?" Evika nodded again, to the obvious amusement of the taller girl. "What's the matter? Crog got your tongue?"

"No, it's just that…" Before she could retaliate, Basil said loudly, "O-kay, so one of us is her guide for the day. I'll do it if nobody wants to."

Not too surprisingly, nobody objected. "I have the bed next to you, so it'll be easier," said Basil, smiling gently and sitting down beside Evika. "Thanks," she mumbled. "Ah, so you do have a voice." This comment stung a bit, letting Evika face her new bedside partner in the face. She couldn't get the words out, though, for somehow, she knew this kind, thoughtful magician. "What? Do I have a blemish I didn't notice this morning?" asked Basil, looking curiously at Evika's surprised face. "Oh, no, it's just that…um, never mind," said Evika, bowing her eyes down to get away from the amber-green eyes boring into her mind. She felt the touch of blue magic, soft and sharp, try to enter her mind but blocked its descent with a shield of red magic strained from her purple. Basil, for a moment, had her eyebrows wobble up for a second, but not more than that. "Um, so let's get changed for dinner; I'll show you the bathroom."

As she was led away, Evika wondered how her father's cousin's daughter, her calm, un-magical cousin, managed to self-awaken something she never wanted, and why?


	13. Reunion's Easing

After sliding into a dusty bundle of tunics and skirts ("Sorry for mistreating these, Mother", muttered Evika), she followed Basil, who was decked out in a strangely proper spring green set, back through the portal and through an intricate maze of hallways and tunnels into a giant dining hall.

She didn't know what surprised her first; the fact that Libertas was magical enough to fit this gargantuan hall as large as the one back in the palace underground, or the fact that in less than three seconds she was the center of curiosity of practically all the seniors, so she couldn't see the ceiling anyway. They towered over her, asking questions so fast her ears were nearly flapping with agitation and confusion; a rare sight from the calm and collected (however sassy she may be) royal princess. Luckily, Zavi was among them and managed to drag her out…after ten minutes of getting bulldozed by the crowd.

---

Picking at her roots and leaf soup with a stick of torn bread, Evika was still being badgered, but not as much. The bemused tutor sitting beside her made sure of that. "So, how are you adapting?"

"Most of the girls are rather stuck up," she admitted.

"Yes, Aura is quite the bossy type, isn't she? And you'll find out that the twins are quite the talkative pair…"

"Did you know Nairnè is here, too?" asked Evika, in almost a hushed tone, not too willing to have people listening in. Zavi smiled, not even turning to answer the question. "Yes, I do know that she is now Basil, the hushed, magical student highly trained in mind-probing."

"So you remember when I was six, you ten, and she four?"

"How could I not? Would you forget if a relative of yours start telling everyone that you couldn't wield a quarterstaff or a needle spear because you complain about blisters?"

"Ha ha. That's nothing; she spilled that I still wished for a…a…tutu, I think."

"No, you wished for a tulip that could freeze the receiver. I remember because I went and bought one for you."

"And I accepted it."

"You were such a pretty lawn ornament for that five minutes the spell held you."

Out of nowhere, another voice popped in, "Sir, do you mind if I take my escort to the tour?" The two looked up to see Nairnè standing behind them, clearly embarrassed at interrupting their exchange of teasing. "Oh, no, not at all Basil," said Zaviroa quickly, "You two go ahead; now please remember that utensils are to be used, Beryl."

He sighed as the girls went out, wondering whether Evika would find out about what was going to happen. He never really trusted Nairnè with keeping secrets, not with such a confusing mind.

---

"So, what were you two talking about?" asked Nairnè after the two left the training rooms, in which Evika nearly squealed in glee about what they were about to learn (she confined it to a polite cough, though). "Oh, I was using my hands with the soup."

"Really?" Evika smiled, and replied by sealing words in magic, sending it to Nairnè so she received it like they were just talking. _No, Nairnè, we were talking about the memory spill, the splinter, and the tulip. _She could have laughed out loud at the face her cousin was taking as the word _tulip _left her mind. "H-how," she stuttered, as Evika broke a little grin. She shook her head and suddenly pulled her grinning cousin into the wall. Actually, into a secret crack behind the mud-colored cloth that camouflaged the crack completely. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well, you know who I am, right?"

"Evika, you little trouble doer, how could I forget my favorite cousin?" (Even though the disguising spell is very nicely done, she thought.)

"You can't; I'm your only cousin," she replied, and continued before any interruptions could be made, "Zaviroa found me as an escapee in the forest and brought me here after I begged common sense into his ears."

"Huh?" Evika sighed; sometimes being two years older seemed like ten when she talked to a tired Nairnè, "I was hoping they'll help find and rescue my parents."

"The king and queen?" Evika nodded. "Well, as a matter of fact (and coincidence) that's our next mission. But since we've only got like three weeks left, this place is like a scurrying insect hole."

"Really?! What are they planning; what are they doing; are they charging or stealth; are they…are they…?"

"Calm down, there. You're not going to be able to participate in the battle if you're in the infirmary," smiled Nairnè, looking like she accomplished a difficult test. "Battle?" The color drained from Evika's face, "Against the Crogs?"

"Don't worry; our brilliant blacksmiths had happily contributed swords that are able to cut through their "unbreakable" metal." Evika felt like fainting, but whether it was for joy or for fear, she wasn't sure. "They've actually found it?"

"Oh, yes, and we all nearly fell out of our chairs when we found out why. You see, Zaviroa had saved that thief earlier, you know? The one who fell off the roofs? Well, he had a Crog blade among his pickings and it just turned out to be our own sword metal pounded more!"

"You…have…got…to…be…kidding," she gasped, "Moon-streak metal makes up their swords?"

"And armor, too. But," a twinkle appeared in her eyes, "It's not treated by our magic, making it stronger, but very vulnerable to…."

"Let me guess; our new swords will be made of lune-bane."

"E-xactly! I'm sorry for being so excited, but we finally can free ourselves from the leech gorging itself on our planet!"

"But how did Libertas find a vein of lune-bane? It's practically the rarest metal on the planet!"

"Our old…friend Earth has been secretly in on the plan, and they've got quite a bit of the metal; I think they call it platinum…anyway, we just need enough for the four blade parts, and the rest will be just regular magical moon-streak metal. We already have about twenty thousand made, and perfectly done, I may add."

"Have you tested it out? It seems too good to be true."

"Yeah; we sliced one of their daggers right up to the hilt about twenty times."

"Oh." The two long-lost cousins stared at each other from their respective spots in the crack. "But are they sure it works?"

"They do. I got a dagger made the same way and nicked off a bit of some guard's arm shield and his back plate shield." As she said so, Nairnè reached inside her tunic and pulled out a small bottle at the end of some hemp rope. Inside the glass were two chunks of metal, one red, one black. Tipping it over Evika's hand, she felt the cold anger in the slivers as the pieces landed in her palm. And what was that? Pity?

"I'm not sure which piece goes where, but I think the red was from his back," said Nairnè, picking up the red slice. "Gee, they did a good job of layering…" Evika didn't hear a word, listening intensely to the story of the black sliver sitting in her hand:

_A fiery forge; a freezing pail of water; a mound of hard volcanic rock molded smooth underneath as the armor was pounded into shape after the last folding. However difficult the beating was to bear, the metal was pleased at being part of something bigger. The blacksmith, too, was relentless even through the blazing heat. But he was not encouraged by the conquest of the Crogs; actually, it was his desperate family that drove him to this twice-blasted infernal hellhole of a forge. He pitied the poor Naurasians or whoever got in trouble with the future wearer of the red and black armor and wished for a direct way out of violence…_

"Evika? Evika; sleep in your own bed. Wake up!" Her eyes fluttered open to have Nairnè's face in her field of eyesight. "Hm? Oh, sorry; was a bit drowsy at the moment. C'mon, let's get back to bed." Even though the earthen tunnels looked nothing like them, her mind was still in the dark forge, feeling sorry for the suffering blacksmith enslaved by his own people.

---

"Hey, Nairnè?" Magical thoughts rushed between the two while they lay wide awake in bed, teasingly plucking out the straw bits sticking out of the rough blankets.

"Yes?"

"Why did you decide to accept your magic?" Silence rang complete, not even disturbed by the pieces of straw falling to the floor. Then, "I was getting desperate. My parents were desperate, too. And I couldn't use many of the learned spells because in shunning my magic, I was shunning the source with it. So I bent to the moment and embraced it. But tell me, Evika, why did _you_ suddenly show magic? That magic test as children we took plainly announced that you were…well…plain. Were you hiding something?"

Evika was silent beside her, head turned down with the bangs covering her eyes as her mind's eye brought her the seamless cube in her right pocket, containing the crystal rilla bird. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It's something very sudden, and I'm still scared. But I'll deal with it. I have to, three weeks from now."

"I know you will." And she really meant it.


	14. Swords in Flight

Sleep was hard to come by with Evika's present state of mind. So many thoughts were spilling through her busy brain that the starshine spilling over the land some hundred feet above her head passed through without her sleeping a wink. So it wasn't surprising to have her smack into almost every aimed pole in morning practice.

"Beryl, Beryl, Beryl," sighed her sparring partner Cherry, pulling her again to her wobbly feet, "What's wrong? Sleepy?" Evika nodded slowly, just to have a stiffer pole swung from behind, hitting her on the spine. Stiffening with the blow, she was irritated already so it did not take much to have her back-swing her own pole to whoever decided to tease her. Hearing the grunt of contact, she reversed the blow and aimed center, feeling instant blocking. Quickly moving fingers, she reversed again, again hitting something hard, then heard her opponent's pole clatter to the ground.

Curious to see who bothered to annoy her in the morning, she nearly fell over in shock after turning around to see her teacher on the ground, nursing a bad bruise on the wrist. Her cheeks turned as red as Cherry's hair, burning with shame to have attacked a teacher. Eventually he came up and faced her eye-to-eye. But even though his thin mouth suggested displeasure, the hawk eyes burning into hers twinkled with mirth.

---

"You did what?"

Midday meal was a busy affair, but more than usual because of the events that took place earlier with Evika disarming a teacher; a beginner's teacher, but a teacher nonetheless. Right now, Evika was enjoying her bread while watching Zaviroa drip soup from his gaping mouth. "You…managed…to…disarm…"

"A teacher," finished Evika, "And not a very good one at that. He's not fast enough to get straight hits from multiple sides."

"Doesn't matter. Now you've just given me more paperwork…" he grumbled, swallowing his soup quickly.

"Why?"

"I have to move you up a class, of course."

---

The rest of the day passed in a blur. All her other classes were normal, but her fighting classes had been switched to a level she liked more. The room was bigger, the ceiling higher, the students harder, and her sleepiness had left itself in bed. She just finished a banter with another student she didn't know when the teacher called her up for a match. _So it was true_, thought Evika as she walked towards the slight depression off to the corner, remembering the warnings that her new teacher self-tested all new students coming into his class. Again, a wooden staff was thrown into her hand, but she had the disadvantage, having to face an opponent with a metal-tipped staff.

Students crowded around the dip in the floor, forming a thick wall of observing eyes. But neither contender noticed the quick glances looking them up every which way; they were too busy sizing each other up. Noting the knotted muscles in his arms and legs, Evika threw herself into a defending position, ready for a charge. But it never came as he instead threw his staff like a javelin, running circular to catch it as Evika leapt away. Landing back on two feet, she was a split-second away from being knocked out when the metal-tipped staff flashed right above her head. Dodging a second swing, she was bouncing around so much that she didn't notice the pole stretched out right above her leaping foot.

Falling on her stomach, she rolled over just to see her teacher haloed by the ceiling as he flew down towards her, staff in hand. Panicking, she held up her own useless staff, only to get surprise when lilac fire ripped through the wood, melting it into a metal rapier, thinner and more to her liking. Using two hands, she swept it to the side as her teacher flew down, carrying him with it. She flipped to her feet, now inflamed with battle as her teacher used his own magic to form a broadsword, charging point-first at her sword-arm. Just a little flick, and she vaulted up and over his head, landing just behind the end of his full swing.

Going for the offense, she instinctively went through the autumn moon slash, pretending that she was on one point of the crescent and that her teacher was on another. He didn't turn around yet, so it was him that landed on his face when his student's rapier caught him on the square of his back, flat edge striking with a surprising strength.

However, it was Evika who was caught unprepared when she put down her weapon. The broadsword came up from behind and was prepared to slice her in half if she hadn't noticed the shadow before her. A ripple of magic slowed it for a few seconds, but she still had to take the brunt of the blow on her thin rapier. It snapped like a twig, and she finally bid surrender when she saw how worked up he was.

Despite the intense challenge, the rest of the day was rather easy. Of course, they were harder with fatigue eating away at her muscles, but she survived. Well, survived long enough to collapse onto her bed during the before-dinner break.

"Something wrong?" asked Nairnè.

---

After some balm and aromatherapy from a herbal kit in her bag (from the forest), she felt ready enough to go take a short wash, soaking protesting muscles in a warm bath laced with peppermint, some oregano, lemon, and a bit of coltsfoot, as well as Nourasian willow flower. It didn't take too long for the herbs to take effect, nearly sending her into a calming sleep that would have lasted all through dinner if her cousin didn't knock on the door.

So she eventually got to the table and dinner. Eventually. The crowds that heard what happened swarmed around like bees to honey, demanding what had happened, getting the second level teacher in a rage he had curbed for an entire year. It seemed like forever before some older students broke it up, even if they too stuck around for a Q&A.

"Don't tell me," said Zaviroa when Evika approached him, "More paperwork."

"Sorry."

"No; my fault. That's what I get for assigning you teachers that personally get involved with students."

"No; my fault. I need to get my battle skills under check. I still battle non-stop, unable to cut myself free."

"But it's still my fault."

"Eat your dinner, Zavi. Then I'll say it's your fault."

"You honestly think I believe that?"

"No."

---

The next day seemed like the most unpredictable of all.

Morning was normal, with breakfast going by like the snowflakes in a blizzard. After finishing off the bread and preserves, she attended magic class, in which she kept her knowledge hidden despite the boring warm ups and basic light calling.

After nearly dulling herself to death, she took midday lunch with Zaviroa and Nairnè.

"You're lucky," she moaned to Nairnè, "Being able to fit in with the advanced class while I have to stay low, with all the trouble I've been through."

"Oh, I'm not so sure," she mumbled, mouth full of fruit, "It's really draining, and the recovery potions are so…so…"

"Vile?"

"That works. They taste like dry wines mixed with old milk…and…" She looked around to see her cousin green in the face. "Eh, that doesn't do during mealtimes, I think…"

"No…"

Bidding them good-bye sometime afterwards after promising them to meet in the corner during starhigh meal, Evika went straight to the caves of third-level fighting.

What struck her first was that her new class was very large. The next surprise was that her classmates were at least five years older than her. Last of all, she noticed that she had run into a swinging pole.

Luckily, all she suffered was a broken nose; no blood though. So it wasn't even five minutes later when she was paired with Cleoi, another student, to practice wind strikes (which she already mastered at the age of seven). It was quite difficult to try and act like an amateur; she worried that the effort showed way too much. Luckily, all that showed was: "Miss Beryl, ease off. You're perspiring as if you had just run the entire boundary of Misled Lake."

"I'm sorry," she said meekly, relieved that what showed of her holding back was misinterpreted. She didn't get anything in return except a sharp rap between the shoulders and a scolding about using apologies in a battle class.

However, it was then that some of the more senior students thought that playing around with the new girl sounded quite fun. She couldn't count how many staff ends met her back, some more than once. It already took a lot of energy not to lose her temper, so she practically exploded when one staff end missed its mark and went lower than expected, right below her hip.

Evika let loose a particularly long chain of swear words, and charged the unfortunate wielder of the staff. Everyone in the room could feel her pulsing anger like an ocean wave; only difference was that it was white hot when it smashed into their heads. Her target got the worst of it, going under flashing staff and boiling anger.

Later they told her that it took an _eighth level teacher_ to separate her from the student. Nairnè also arrived because of her mind magic, so together they slowly calmed her inner fury to a little puddle, leaving only a previously masked feeling of humility, embarrassment, and sorrow.

She took starhigh meal and dinner alone to let the rumors run and calm themselves, only letting in Nairnè and Zaviroa.

"What have they been saying?" she asked ruefully.

"Well, now nearly half of the students promised to leave you alone."

"And the other half?"

"Eh…they promised to squish you to a pulp. You know you just landed one of the most 'cutest' boys in Libertas in the infirmary, reducing his face to something short of a squeezed orange?"

"Did I? I can't really remember…"

"You can't?"

"Well, I know I lost my temper…and I hit someone…but it was my hands that scared me. Somehow, I wasn't controlling them like I want," she said, gripping the sheets until her amber hands turned white, "And I don't want to do that. I might have killed him, right?"

"But did you see what you hit him with?"

"Actually, yes. First, I went for his back, swinging in wing position, then angled for the nauraya star strike, and then…"

"Did you want to do those to him? Why go first in the nauraya? Why not go petal-fall first?"

"I actually don't know," she admitted, "I just pulled up my training and started chaining them together. It wasn't like the first time, with the teacher, I mean; I actually had control; I knew what to do. But this," she stared at her long fingers and open palm, "This is like…it's not me." Evika then giggled. "It's like that story Father used to tell me of the Knight who was so fast and strong."

"'The Tale of the Blade'?"

"Yeah."

Nairnè grinned, "I remember; he used to terrorize battle. His enemies and allies swore that he used his weapons so fast, they were armorbird wings to whoever was so unfortunate to be under them. What my mother said was that they 'raged like the water, stabbed into the ground with the strength of fire; those swords in flight'; I loved that stanza."

"I did too. But he was kind of crazy."

"No he wasn't!"

"Okay, to bed, you two," chuckled Zaviroa, "Nairnè, you can have that cot next to your cousin. Evika; you'll report to me tomorrow for battle class."

"Why?"

"Seeing as half the teachers are quite frightened of you now, I've been chosen to be your personal tutor."


	15. Crystalline Wings

"What? Did I grow a second head?"

As Evika and Nairnè walked together to breakfast, the crowd, normally thicker than water and cornstarch, parted before the two like same-poled magnet-stones. She noticed the faces of the group: a mix of astonishment, fear, and a little curiosity. "No, Beryl, you're just scaring them."

"Basil, why would they be scared of me?" Before getting out of the infirmary, she promised Zaviroa that she'd keep her temper show down low, instead acting like she lost memory of the incident.

"You don't remember? You beat your teacher into the dust."

"Oh, no…am I in trouble?"

"No; you just have to deal with another teacher."

"I hope it doesn't happen again."

"Me neither."

Due to the easy path to the dining hall, the cousins were early to the line, getting more time than usual to talk to Zaviroa. "Hello, Zavi. You're serious about teaching me?"

"I _was_ the royal swords master…"

"I don't have problems about that."

"Good. Because you will when I'm finished with you."

---

"Concentrate! Left, right, staff, then what?"

"I'm trying!" Evika yelled back. Zaviroa had skipped routines and went straight at doing abstract moves she had never seen before. After that, they went at each other with insults made for distracting enemies and so such. ("You fat, pompous, slow little child that swings like a rock" was a favorite to them both.) At the moment, the two were creating new staff jabs that were not fun at all. If she decided on a set of movements that felt like a battle swing, it was put to the test by her tutor; herself the guinea pig for her own ideas.

"Get going! Up, up, up!" The staff tip collided with her legs, knocking the rest of her body down like a set of dominos. "What am I going to do with you?" A cup of cold water was pushed into her shaking hands; it went down very quickly. Zaviroa put down his weapon and kneeled alongside his student. "Evika, what's wrong? You never were this tired," he said, voice dripping with impatience. "I really don't know. I'm just…worried, I think."

"About what?"

"Mother and Father."

"Oh. I miss them, too. But we'll get them out soon."

"I know; it's just that…I…they…"

"You don't know why they never told you about your skills?" The long face looked up in surprise. "I knew it. As for your worries…"

"What are you planning?" she asked suspiciously. A smile crept into her teacher's face.

"Oh no" were the last words in the room before the two inhabitants went running down the hallways.

---

Her shoes dragged, trying to brake, trying to slow down the jog that Zaviroa was doing smoothly uphill. Her memory map didn't have a section for where they were headed, and that fact worried her very much.

Up a rugged stone hallway, down and left at the wooded beam with a lantern, right at the stone hall; the place was very far away. By now, both were running easily, sometimes stooping to miss a jutting piece of root. No matter what direction, the bumpy path always led either up or level.

_The surface_, thought Evika, as they rounded a corner to see some moss and lichen nearby. Soon enough, small earthly creatures came into sight of their palm lights: worms, bugs, and some kind of furry creature she didn't know. Some time after encountering the small bits of life, Zaviroa stopped. Unprepared, Evika's soft sandals skidded on the soil floor, leading her right into a thick wooden door.

Rubbing her squashed nose, Evika stepped aside to properly investigate the odd object that seemed so lost in the world of dirt and dust it was set in. The knob, she could see, was of an ancient style back when metal was widely used for the strangest objects. A keyhole, large and unsymmetrical, was set in the center of the block. The wood itself was hardy, very scratched up, though; reddish in tint, suggesting ironwood; and had small carvings here and there of people and plants; no words. Zaviroa stepped up, finger shushing them both as he fitted a key from a hidden pocket inside the keyhole. A small click, and it creaked open.

The smell of fresh sun-dried hay crept into their noses. Crawling out into the sunset, Evika straightened up from the dust and looked around. Dried grass surrounded the two of them as Zaviroa shut the hidden door, relocking it from the outside. A dusting of hay made it indistinguishable from the rest of the area. Finger still to his lips, he trotted away from the exit and took Evika's hand. Together they walked cautiously around the stack.

Evika gasped. Before her was a bare plain of dry soil leading up to grand stables about three stories high. The amber wood was cut into cubicles, which housed some of the most magnificent creatures she had ever had the luck to see.

Giant beetles were lodged inside the sunset-dappled stables. By book, she knew them as naurayas, the natural friend of the people of Naurasia. In reading, she noted that their exoskeleton was well adapted to weather damage; wings crystal clear hid under the shell, extending as far as twice their height sometimes; magic can be used to enhance their natural ability of speed, strength, and sometimes wings' blades.

There were seven beautiful naurayas currently in view. There were two blue (best choice for royals), three green, one red, and one as purple as her natural eyes. Zaviroa sneaked them both to the stall containing the violet nauraya. Hesitating a bit, Evika followed him all the way inside.

Her breath was taken away at the size. This magnificent flyer was almost as big as her father's nauraya, G'dar, with about ten or so years lesser. Small, beady eyes looked straight at her own, connecting in a way that nobody would ever understand.

"He's yours," muttered Zaviroa, "You were bonded at your first year, but before the Naming in your seventh year…"

"I know," murmured Evika, reaching up to pet the purple shell. "And I have a name for you, lovely one. Like my mother's nauraya, you shall be named Jordyn." A small squeak (of joy?) followed the simple Naming.

"Well," said Zaviroa after the name was given to the nauraya, "Why don't you fly him?"

"Fly him? But…"

"Don't worry; I'll teach you how."

---

"Aumsicci aurm Jordyn paili." Outside while astride the saddle that Zaviroa had fished out of a haystack, Evika cast an invisibility spell that cloaked the two of them for as long as her magic could hold, which was about five minutes. With the opening of the wing case, the magic fully took effect, making the two of them vanish from sight. To themselves, they seemed to be a haze in the light. The long wings beside her feet started to tremble, then vibrate, soon fully lifting the two somewhat sloppily into the twilight air. On the ground near the hay shed, Zaviroa waved a clear before Jordyn darted into the star-strung sky.

Why she never took lessons in flying, she did not know, for it was hard to believe that she had missed five years of this freedom, this freshness, this exhilarating feeling in her heart. Clouds at her feet, the stars in her hair; nothing could be as true to happiness than now. With strong cloud cover building up, Evika let off on the spell, leaving the two in full view to each other.

What caught her view first were the wings of her friend. Humming softly, they went up and down at amazing speeds, cutting the air to let them stay in the heavens. The tips were long, reaching some three feet past the open wing case. A soft blue tinge hardly noticeable to the untrained eye caught the light, revealing the fact that Jordyn was a wing-cutter; an uncommon nauraya characteristic that hardens the wings without burden, letting flight battles include a spell that uses the wings itself to slice apart soft objects such as trees, some metals, and repel weak light attacks. Those abilities were one of the reasons why the different naurayas were said to have 'crystalline wings'.

They stayed in flight and unity for much longer than five minutes, soon leaving behind the starshine and only flying in the dark of night. It was getting quite chilly, though, so Evika called down Jordyn, casting the invisibility spell again before leaving the cover of the clouds.

Rain fell softly on the partners on the descent. Dark clouds and wind hinted at a storm, so they hurried back to the stall. The spell was removed, and they shook off the water before Evika kissed him goodnight.

Running back to the hay storage, Evika ran through a mental apology about why she and Jordyn stayed up so long. _The wind was so inviting, the stars so beautiful. If you could, could you bring me back? Jordyn and I have become so connec…_

The half-finished words stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the pair of red eyes and pointy ears in the hay. Darkness as deep as the night soaked in after the giant black fist left her sight.


	16. Dreaming With Light

"Help! Someone alert the high…the high…" Zaviroa panted as he raced along the hallways into the one he's never stepped in before except the time he was granted the position of tutor. Heading deeper into the maze, he felt the dirt give way to rough mats, the candles into lanterns. It was just like before, except that he called for them, and they did not to him.

"Your business with the high leaders," intoned one of the two guards suddenly before him.

"A kidnapping," wheezed Zaviroa, "And make it quick! I need to get through!"

---

Darkness covered every corner of her sight.

Waking up sluggishly, Evika blinked a few times before realizing that there wasn't anything wrong with her eyes; it was just that the environment was darker than the deepest night. Gulping nervously, she tried to get off the cold stone floor only to find that her ankles and wrists were chained to the floor, letting her rise only to her knees.

Silence dominated the dungeon she was in. Occasionally, a small moan, almost not there at all, broke the surface with tiny ripples of sound. Feeling slightly sick of fear, Evika tried to focus a ball of light together, finding none but a miniscule spark that fizzed out instantly. She mentally groaned; the chains were spelled to enclose Naurasian magic. Now what to do?

Sighing, she was about to go to sleep when a creak of an opening door nearly blew out her eardrums. Flinching, she put her head up to the light suspended above the small food cart passing around slices of bread and stale water. The wheels stopped squeaking at her door. Red eyes looked through the bars suddenly illuminated by the electronic light swinging lopsided on a worn hook.

"So you're the newbie." The gruff comment made her ears shiver in pain, the noise too loud to bear after all the silence. "Average Naurasian, all I see. But why the high security? Already run out of room in the other dungeons or sommat?"

At least the disguising spell hadn't worn off yet. "H-high security?" Did they know who she was? "Like for royals?"

The Crog snorted. "If we got nobles; yeah."

"If?"

"No kings or queens here, girlie. All gone by the time the palace was taken. Heh, I was there when we took over. There were pretty little trinkets in the rooms, an' all the people gone. House of the invisible, fer all I know; kept looking over my shoulder fer little prickles…"

Evika couldn't believe her ringing ears. So the rumor that her parents were here…was just a rumor?

---

Zaviroa was looking at two silhouettes behind a white curtain. The leaders of Libertas never showed their faces to anybody; in fear of recognition, they say. Others yet commented that it was to prevent anybody from spilling the secret by torture. Either way, all their orders came from these two mysterious figures behind a lily-white sheet.

"Your business?"

"A student has been taken by the Crogs. It's Beryl, the new recruit," said Zaviroa.

"She was your charge, if I could remember."

"I was above ground, practicing," he muttered embarrassingly. "They came out of nowhere."

"Where were the two of you?"

"In the royal stables," he admitted.

"What were you doing there?"

"I was showing the girl flight, for a change of scenery. And then when she came out, she ran into a group of five guards. I could not stop them from taking her into the dungeons; first degree."

"First degree?" said the other shadow, perplexed. "Are they running out already? Typical."

"There's a rumor around that they plan to slaughter all the prisoners tomorrow to make room for new ones. Please save her!" cried Zaviroa. But he was knocked on the head by a shell voice-deepener as the two figures rushed out of the room before he finished. He ran after the two, panting as he met up with them at the beginning of the masked pathway. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked as they reached the hidden passage to the stables. "Do I know…you…?"

His jaw dropped to the stone-paved floor.

---

Evika shivered on the ground. Her parents weren't here; all the planning was a waste of time. How do the gods keep track of all the secrets of the world without telling their people?

Sitting up again, she nibbled at the crust of bread given to her. It was plain; the scraps from the kitchen table from lunch probably three days ago. Thankfully, no mold had sprouted yet. _Count your blessings_, she thought humorously.

Finishing off the last crumbs, she felt the chains on her wrist. If only she could get free of the blasted things…An idea sparked in her head. She fingered the sleeve of the rough shirt she wore, feeling for any sign of the pocketknife she placed inside when she left Earth. It was non-magical, and it was sharp; perfect for cutting through many things, perhaps metals, too.

She smiled in the dark as her fingers ran into a bump on her right elbow.

Pulling the blade out of the socket, she tackled the rings as silently as she could. But the knife was only halfway through when it snapped without notice, the tinkle like a death bell. Gritting her teeth, she sat back down, tucking the pocketknife back into her sleeves. She crossed her arms over her chest in frustration and pulled back as something hard poked her in the chest. "What…?" she wondered, reaching into her collar.

Her hands came out with a crystal rilla bird, sitting patiently with its eyes of dreams looking into her own. Somehow, she knew this even with the suffocating darkness around the two of them. A serene feeling wafted onto her heart, calming her down very easily.

Now she could think. She couldn't break any spell from the inside, but what if the magic was outside…?

Evika placed the beak into the slot made by the blade; into the scar of freedom. Wrapping her fingers around the beautiful wings, she muttered meditatively a spell long forgotten except by the bird of dreams; a spell that breaks darkness and nightmares to reweave them into pure bliss. The rilla knew this; and now, so did Evika.

"Aumsicci. Overseer of the winds and of the skies of the mind, fulfill your blessing and mine. Umsicci. Seeker of happiness and remembrance, receive my wish and yours. Here in the darkness, let there be light from the heavens of dreams. Spells from both ends unite." Evika closed her eyes as the light enveloped the entire dungeon and beyond.

---

"Wait! You don't have the…key…" said Zaviroa, sullen-faced at not being able to help at the moment. They had keys in their pockets too, swinging a much fancier version of his into the rough hole in the ironwood. Swinging open the door, the two started firing into the area with pre-spelled arrows. Zaviroa was impressed; those types of arrows were very hard to make, and took lots of time to prepare correctly._Those two must have had a lot of extra days at their disposal, unable to train and all that_, he thought.

Stepping into the courtyard, Zaviroa and his leaders ran to the house containing the only stairs to the dungeons. But just as they were about to storm the place, Crogs began fleeing the vicinity. They passed the three as if they weren't there. "What the…? What is going on?"

A flash of light erupted from the open door. From its bright belly came many seemingly lost Naurasians, also fleeing the area with tears of joy at their eyes. As the fireworks ended, he tried to run with the other two into the dark mouth, but was stopped when they reached the doorframe. "Open the stables," commanded one of them. "You know which four."

"Four? I thought you three were…"

"Your skills are needed, too. This rescue's gonna end up with a bang," smiled the other. "Might as well open them all, too."

Zaviroa rushed back to the giant doors as his leaders ran into the dark staircase.

---

Evika settled into the rilla's wings. The feathers were downy, as she once thought clouds to be like. Wreathed in light, she thought that she could stay here forever, down in the hidden catacombs under the palace, dreaming.

"Will you be here when I wake?" she asked the bird.

"I am your magic. I will always be here, in your heart."

The echoing voice started to fade with the figure of light. Scrambling to her feet, Evika cupped her hands as the remaining twinkles entwined to return into crystal.

She fell to her knees, locking the memory in place as two adults ran down the stairs.

---

Opening all the doors, Zaviroa ran to the first four at the right end side.

"Jordyn." Two cries answered him, one from an amethyst nauraya, another from a beautiful scarlet.

"Fifdien." A bright yellow nauraya, hearing its partner's name, shrieked in happiness.

He turned to the last in the line, the one at the very last stall. Beady black eyes, unfazed by age, looked at him with knowing. "And…G'dar." The sapphire carapace fluttered with anticipation.

"You're very slow, Zavi!" He looked back at the dungeon entrance to see three people run towards him. The male ran up and asked, "Are they saddled up?"

"Of course. Perfectly buckled, sealed, and stocked with arrows."

"I knew it was a good idea to teach you as a child. Now get on Fifdien; we'll need all the help we can get."

"Yes, sir!"

The Naurasian smiled. "None of that official stuff; just Aikka will do just fine. And the same will apply to Eva and Evika."


	17. Rain Splattered Battle

The approaching night brought something unpleasant to their predicament: a storm. And by the looks of the ominous thunderheads and echoing thunder, things were going to get a bit messy.

Evika didn't imagine her second-ever flight to be an escape. Nor a battle. But there she was, holding a giant longbow with an arrow steady and spells tingling in her lips. Beside her, Zaviroa and her parents were doing the same. Her mother, seeing her sweat-dotted face, flew in on her red nauraya. "Evika, are you alright?" she asked, relaxing her pre-spelled arrows a little bit.

"I'm fine," she said. "Go back to your spot, Mother, I can take care of myself."

"Call if you need me, then." Evika couldn't hold back a smile as Eva flew back into formation, pointing her weapon behind them. At the head, her father and Zaviroa debated the best place to stay for the moment. The moisture was getting to their tempers as well as the dangerous seconds of flight.

"We have to go over the sea."

"Are you crazy? If we fight there, we'll crash for sure! Your majesty, please land back at the base."

"Have you forgotten that every entrance is surrounded by guards that can recognize a royal nauraya?" retorted Aikka, looking down at the shadows they formed into the clouds. "We can do a surprise attack for the moment and regroup for a little while," bellowed Zaviroa.

"I am not sacrificing my family to the Crogs ever again!"

"And you think _I _want to?"

Evika was so tied into their argument that she didn't notice anything else until a little stone was slung at her hand. "Ow," she uttered, looking over to the thrower's direction. Her mother was holding up a slingshot at the hotheaded males too. They both jumped in surprise and looked back. "We've got company about three minutes away. Tridents are pursuing us," she yelled, waving a pair of binoculars up and down.

Now that she wasn't concentrating, Evika could hear a slight whistling and flare-crackle. Turning around, she could see a few red and black dots among the grey background. "Oh, gods," she whispered.

"Dive!" Everyone plummeted, heading straight down as if they were freefalling in an act of suicide. "And curl under and out; draw arrows at their flare exhaust." Evika's stomach twisted with Jordyn as the two of them abruptly changed direction and shot back into the clouds. Halfway there, the skies started to rain.

Evika fished out Eva's goggles from her hip pouch. Snapping them on, she cleared the lenses and drew an arrow. Overhead, she could see the fast-moving flares heading to the right, dots of bright blue, flame red, and sunny yellow following below. Deciding that she won't miss out on this, she pursued them only to get lost in the deluge. Turning upwards, she broke the first cover of clouds to appear behind the flares of light. But the light weren't from Tridents. Winged rockets loaded with explosives were the culprits.

"Don't shoot!" she cried into the clouds, watching little blots of blue appear below. Too late.

The sky itself seemed to tear apart with the detonation. Clouds of inky darkness engulfed their position, blinding and stinging. Shrapnel carved up the area like a cloud of miniature daggers. The resulting sonic boom distorted particles for a little while, making things ripple.

Wrapped in a quick protection sphere, Evika and Jordyn were shielded from the worst of the blast. Buzzing to where she saw them, she began searching for her parents and Zaviroa. Early on, she found the latter with a torn sphere and numerous cuts on his body hovering above the rain clouds. "Zavi!" she cried, flying to him.

"I'm fine, just a little cut," he muttered, gripping his bloodied bow arm. "Get away from here. If that didn't call the Crogs to their Tridents, I don't know what will."

"Did you see my parents?"

"No, I lost them in the explosion."

"Mother!" wailed Evika, "I need you; where did you go this time? Please, oh please be alright with Father."

While their riders were talking, Fifdien and Jordyn squeaked to each other in urgent bursts. Giving a final utterance to one another, both suddenly dropped from the sky. They tumbled head on back into the dark rocket burst, into the pelting rain. Evika and Zaviroa held on as tight as they could from the unpredicted move.

Once emerging from the tar-black mess, they could both see down below.

And on the ground were Evika's parents. Surrounded.

---

"Sir, we have found the underground rebellion."

"Libertas?"

"Yes. Shall we attack?"

"Load all the guns and lead a full charge to quickly crumple them. Also, go charge up a battalion of Tridents for back-up."

"Yes, sir."

---

Wide-eyed, Evika charged towards the ground into the direction of her parents. Bare-handed, she dropped from Jordyn to land beside her weaponless family. Running all the way, she squealed and rushed past them into the crowd.

"Nairnè!" she cried, hugging her unsuspecting cousin standing in the front of the crowd of Libertas members, nearly bowling over the Naurasians behind her in the process. "W-what?" she stuttered, wind knocked out by the sudden squeeze. Trying to gain composure and keep the secret, she managed to wheeze out, "My n-name isn't Nairnè, it's Basil…"

"Oh, drop the act already! Come on!" Evika dragged Nairnè to her parents at the center of the crowd. She immediately blushed tomato-red and bowed. Grinning with laughter, Evika drew out her father's dagger and gave a little poke to her kneeling cousin. Everyone laughed, even the king and queen, as the princess leapt up in surprise, hand to her tailbone and quiver.

But the laughter didn't last long as a familiar whine and clanking beat reached their ears. Immediately, the widespread crown split into sections and fired arrows into the outside. The blue light shone bright in the sunset as twilight set upon the view of an armed squad of Crogs. Quite a few were caught and slumped to the ground just to be marched over, useless as an empty cartridge.

High above, Zaviroa began showering the field with arrows, but was halted by whizzing machines with flames coming out of their backs.

Aikka scanned the battlefield. "Tridents out high, surroundings made of the enemy," he concluded. "An aerial-earth pincer. Very smart."

"Father," asked Evika, "What shall I do?"

"Keep away from the battle. Take Nairnè with you and hide."

"Hide where?" A cold something pricked her on the nose. Looking up, she could see that the twilight had faded into the rain, thick clouds obstructing the sky. _Wait_, she thought, _thick clouds_…

Evika whirled around and grabbed Nairnè by the sleeve. Slinging her cousin on Jordyn's back like a sack of potatoes, she followed soon after and landed in the saddle. Nairnè, however, hadn't completely come out of her quiet and secluded shell yet; the fear of flying was still as strong as ever. She squealed with the volume of a foghorn when they rose into the sky, hugging onto Evika's shoulders as if they were her lifelines in the sea.

Oblivious to the iron hands on her back, Evika led Jordyn into the deep, stormy skies and plunged into the unknown valleys of the cumulonimbus clouds. The initial dip was very wet; droplets began forming on their clothes and skin as they carved through the darkness. "It shouldn't be that sodden," she muttered, climbing higher. But as they were almost to the surface of the cloud cover, Nairnè screamed again as Jordyn rolled off fast to avoid a sudden blast of red. They righted again as a Trident came out a few meters from their last position.

It was a few seconds later when another blast ripped through the air to narrowly miss the lilac flyer. Evika calculated a fifteen-second pause between the lasers. Gritting her teeth, she waited out the next ten-and-five until again, a ray of blood-red light shot towards them like a javelin. Jordyn suddenly flipped in midair, flying over the light and past it to aim right at the vulnerable Trident. Jaw tight, Evika prayed that her gamble would work off. She watched as they came a few feet away from the hard metal surface, sticking out the nearest wing over the blades. Both of his riders gasped as suddenly Jordyn, the wing-cutter nauraya, slashed through the ugly blackness like a hot knife to butter. A straight gash was left on the passing Trident, neat and nearly invisible if not for the wire ends sticking out.

Sparks played around the damaged machine, Nairnè could see from her position behind Evika. And when there's sparks around a machine…

"Duck!" she screamed, scaring the three of them into a dive just as the Trident exploded. Like the previous incident with the rockets, shrapnel scattered from the spot, but was more dangerous on account of the harder and sharper material being flung out. Eyes reflecting the deadly hail of metal coming towards them, Nairnè was shocked out of her meekness in the air and immediately rushed a protection spell, running her fingers through the air.

Evika swerved in her seat just in time to see her cousin slip off the one-man saddle, hands not gripping any support. One hand busy, she threw her other arm towards the flailing one just as the shield fully formed a barrier between them. The rain returned as both princesses flew towards the ground, no moonlight to guide their way. _It's the Black Moon_, Evika suddenly realized with the shards of metal beginning to ping off Nairnè's shield. _It's the day when my parents were supposed to die._

The omen pressing on her will, only the neat maneuvering of Jordyn kept Evika in her seat and away from the free-falling situation of Nairnè. Eyes vacant, she could only watch as her cousin's white tunic fluttered farther and farther away.

---

On the ground, Zaviroa was very vulnerable. Without Fifdien to take him on the trail of the princesses, for he was sent to send multiple troops into the air, he had only his hand-to-hand skill to survive. For a Royal Swordsmaster, his mastery of the dagger, long sword, and close-range bow was rather dull. The only reason why he was still alive was because of his friend beside him. Sicila, the maid and expert magician, blasted another Crog off into the distance. Turning to sphere the two of them again, she panted heavily and fixed him with an irritated eye. "Some Swordsmaster you are."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, changing weapons for a chain and ball.

"You're better in the air. Where's Fifdien?"

"Somewhere. Oh, there," he said, pointing into the sky where a glint of yellow shone like a star. "Fifdien! Flatten them!" Dropping from the clouds, the nauraya scattered the raindrops as he body-slammed a crowd of Crogs nearby. "Come on," commanded Zaviroa, pulling Sicila towards the waiting saddle. Once airborne, he switched weapons again for a longbow. The thick and heavy wood strained as he shot three arrows at one to the ground. "Help me, Sicila," he yelled, firing off another round.

"Where's the princess?"

_Odd question for the moment_, he thought. "Somewhere above."

"In the sky?"

"Yes, now hel-" His breath was choked out instantly as a sudden blast of magic forced his lungs to eject all the air inside. A muted blow to the head caused a blackout, his body slumping forward in the saddle.


	18. Star in the Darkness

Sicila drew Fifdien up higher into the storm. With the battle scents mixing up his senses, the nauraya hadn't realize that its true rider had fallen, and obeyed the flight-trained Naurasian on his back.

The skies were now frightfully dangerous. Thunder was heard about once every five minutes, and the flashes seemed to get brighter and brighter with every ear-ringing explosion. _If I'm lucky, the girl and her family might get struck with lightning before I have to go through this ocean to kill them,_ thought the magician, raising her hands nonetheless.

--

Zaviroa was falling at a speed that would be lethal unless some very, very soft material was used to cushion his fall. The rain actually fell off him; he was dropping through the sky so quickly; so that he glittered like a comet with the sparse light from the battles shining off the water, about to crash into the soggy earth below him. If he were conscious at the moment, he would've done a simple floating spell that all royal families and knights knew if they were to fly. It was the equivalence of a parachute, but with much better results since the ease from falling to settling was not so jolting.

But the shorter version was about the same, albeit without the comforting extra seconds of smooth decelerating. "Ouch!" Zaviroa exclaimed, suddenly feeling as if he bounced off something rather hard. The shock of the sudden stop had woken him up as efficiently as a slap to the face. Or, as the spell really was, a slap to the entire body, as he landed on a tightly squeezed cloud.

Looking around with confusion, he was clueless as to who had stopped his fall when a familiar princess came rising up from her own compact cloud. "Nairnè!" he exclaimed, nearly shocked enough to tumble from his position again.

The girl sighed, relieved that she had caught him in time. At least she did something right.

"Where's Evika?" he asked, remembering that the two had sat together. "I don't know; I had to let go to shield her," she replied in a worried tone. "Why are you up here without Fifdien?"

"That cursed Sicila; she was the traitor who ratted us out to the Crogs. She took Fifdien and knocked me out."

"And is going after Evika?"

"She asked me where she was earlier; I told her I didn't know, just somewhere in the air."

"I think I know. But how can we get there?"

--

Up where the gales were fiercest, the rain was thickest, and the lightning morphed everything into a blinding star, a lone nauraya and its rider sat in a spherical shield, the latter unable to form any thought whatsoever. The person she had now become friends with, a peer with whom she could talk with, a cousin who she could recall the past with, was gone because of her sake. Bathed in the Black Moon's nothingness and the dark despair of her heart, Evika didn't notice the shadow behind her.

A well-designed spell shattered the orb encasing the delicate beings within, the shards falling down into the battle and onto Jordyn's back with a soft _tinkle_. Slowly, Evika turned to face a semi-familiar face.

"Sicila?" she murmured in a half-dead voice.

"That's right; come on board so I can carry you to safety," she crooned softly, forming her own shield around the two to make sure that no interfering body or sound could disrupt her plan. Silence tore through the background like sharp claws ripping through reality. Was it true? Was her past once again ready to save her from the night of death?

She stood up, as if sleepwalking. Everything disappeared as she wobbled down the carbuncle; the warning screeches of Jordyn were blocked off, the lost figure of Nairnè faded from mind, the crackling spelled crystal somewhere ahead was ignored; all that existed now was the warm smile of her childhood's past.

But just as she was about to leap over the gap between the naurayas and into her maid's arms, her step faltered. Something in her heart was throbbing, beating quickly, as a cautioning, blowing feeling began to seep into her frozen mind. A foot stuttered a little, knocking against the glass-like remains of Nairnè's shield. She looked down, slowly remembering the last she saw of her cousin, and of the life she sacrificed to protect her. _Is this what she wanted?_

Suddenly, a pain stabbed her in the heart. She looked down to see a crackling crystal charged with energy stuck between her ribs. Her brilliant violet eyes met the murderous ones of a face she thought she knew, blood and hate scarring it beyond recognition. "Sicila?"

"Die, you dirty excuse of a life."

_No. She wouldn't have wanted this._

"I'm sorry, Sicila," whispered Evika, falling to her knees, dark human's hair drifting across her face.

The magician let go of the arrowhead and left it imbedded inside the girl's bleeding heart. Finally, the Crogs would give her a position in their empires; a place fit for someone as skilled as she was. Being a maid to a child was something to do for a normal person, even if the future ruler of Naurasia was the babe mentioned. Smirking, Sicila lifted her hand and was about to shatter her shield to fly when something flew into her face. She recoiled as the blood-smeared shard slapped the red liquid right below her eye.

Looking up, Sicila saw a hand lifted in her direction.

Evika slowly stood up, her bloody fingers still extended towards her previous maid as if to stop her. "I can't die. Nairnè wouldn't let me, I know." The crystal in her heart started to glow, the light spreading to all of the shield shards on both naurayas. With no whimper of pain coming from her body, her other hand pulled the arrowhead from her chest. Blood immediately began flowing in a cascade of scarlet spurts, coating her tunic, one from her mother's boxes, in the cinnabar color. Some of the shining shards floated up in their illuminated state and plugged the flow with its magic. From that point, the other shards followed its brethren in sticking together, the fusing pieces spreading over Evika's skin and creating a sort of armor for the girl.

Sicila could only stare as protection of one of the highest calibers began forming around the person she was supposed to kill. If the shield was completed, only a few spell casters could even hope to break through. That or a fall into a war zone from an arrow's flying distance. The thought in mind, she charged and summoned a club of ice from the moisture in the air.

Evika followed her previous caretaker's actions by running with a familiar blade from her pocket. _Clang!_ The point of impact almost created a shockwave as the two locked weapons. Sicila hissed as the king's dagger started to bite into the frozen surface, sending cracks into the hastily-made block. She pulled away first, backing off and swinging the heavy mass towards the starburst-marked cheek. Evika saw the slow motion, and jumped before it could smash through the still-soft armor.

From the air, she seized the shards attracted to the fusion on her clothes and hardened them, throwing them in a cloud of sharp edges. As Sicila pulled the ice before her, blocking the shield bits from hitting her face, Evika took the chance and struck with the force from the fall, reconnecting the two weapons with the blade sticking halfway inside the bludgeon. Sicila was pushed to the edge with the strike, nearly falling off Fifdien. Evika kept pushing, trying to avoid a drawn-out battle.

"No, I won't let you live if I don't!" screamed Sicila. She shoved harder out of desperation, forcing a hand under the place where the metal and ice touched. Power gathered in her palm, and Evika saw it too late.

From Jordyn's back, she flew outwards as the explosion shattered Sicila's shield behind her. The armor of shield wasn't fused enough to survive the impact, and the slowing spell wasn't strong enough to stop her rapid descent.

Her breath was knocked from her lungs as she landed on her back on something rather hard. Someone's hand grabbed her wrist, nearly breaking them in the process as she began sliding off. "One, two, three, _heave!_" Evika landed on a small body as she was jerked upwards. "E-Evika, get off…"

"Nairnè?" Sitting up clumsily because of the armor still forming around her, but in a slower pace because of the lack of shards to use, Evika looked around and saw two familiar faces sitting on a familiar nauraya. "Mother, Nairnè!" she cried, spotting their two faces in the deluge. "And we're on Jordyn, aren't we?" she asked, looking at the sunset-colored carapace at her sides.

"Nice to see you're among the living after something like that," smiled Eva, hugging her daughter with one hand on the saddle. Squeezed tighter than a filling in a sweet bun, Evika hardly had any room to turn her head to look at her cousin, thankfully still alive. She caught a glimpse of a smile, though.

"Evika, what did you do?" Eva let go to look at the shard armor which was starting to harden as the ends were about to meet. "I…um…"

Eva smiled, recognizing the spell and remembering the amount of power needed to activate and fuel such a magic. "So you did find him."

"Actually, he found me through the box. Or maybe it was the bird."

"I knew he was reliable, even if charged with protecting Oban while all this was happening." Her mother smiled with the memory. "So you're finally living up to your father's name."

"And yours," Evika added. "I've finally understood flying and…oh! Where's Jordyn?"

"Um…right here?"

"No," said Nairnè, smiling. "She named_ her_ nauraya 'Jordyn' also."

"He's somewhere up there! Mother, hurry and fly to where I fell!" Without a second to spare, Eva shot up into the air with such a speed that the two girls were flattened against the flowing wind.

"Who's up there? It can't be Sicila, by any chance?"

"Yes. I saw Fifdien up there too. You know him: Zaviroa's partner. Oh, and where is he?"

Nairnè looked up from having her head down to reduce the wind force on her face. "He's with the king. They're holding off the Crogs together."

"While Sicila still is up there; she's the one who knocked me off. Quick, we've got to save him!"

"And save Naurasia," Nairnè added.


	19. Eclipse Within Clouds

Author's note: I'm sorry to all you readers for having you wait so long! But the climax is coming soon (I hope) so please stay tuned! I'll try to hold off my other stories for it, but please be patient if I fail to.

--

"Great gods, when is this rain going to stop?" asked Zaviroa, firing off another trio of arrows. "My aim's gone down faster than a falling milknut."

"You don't need aim here. We're so thickly surrounded you could shoot into the _sky_ while _blindfolded_ and bring a Crog down," replied King Aikka, slashing left and right with a lune-bane saber to pierce right through the Crog's moon-streak metal armor.

"Thanks for pointing out our already sour situation," the swordsmaster sighed. "Hey, who's that?"

--

Nairnè spotted the two from the sky. "There they are!" she shouted, pointing to a thick collection of black-armored Crogs.

"How do you know?" asked Evika, peering down at the two miniscule Naurasians fighting off their attackers.

"Who else would attract attention like that?" Nairnè grabbed an arrow from the saddle holder and tossed it to the muddy ground, starting the incantation right after. It astonishingly, despite the hard rain and clamor below, landed right between the king and his partner. They both looked up as the shield came rushing into being, the slightly opaque shell shoving away any Crogs near its border. Evika nocked an arrow and spoke a quick explosion spell into its crystal before letting it fly just a little off into the center of the crystalline screen.

Since it was the shorter version used, the explosion spell wasn't as effective as Evika thought it would be. It tore away quite a bit of armor, however, as well as some flesh that was instantly incinerated upon contact with the bright blue flames.

Eva took the chance to swoop down with her nauraya and scare the rest of the Crogs away. In a swish of long black hair, she leapt from Jordyn's back and landed beside her husband once the shield was broken. "Zaviroa, go up and help my daughter. I can't help you guys in magic, and Aikka's rather busy, so you three go take down Sicila and hurry with it."

"Yes, mistress!" Evika and Nairnè caught Zaviroa as he leapt the five feet onto the edge of Jordyn's saddle.

"Nice to have you aboard, Zavi," laughed Evika. Once she made sure he was secure behind Nairnè, Evika tossed her father's dagger between her parents with her mother's goggles loosely tied on its hilt. "They were a big help!" she hollered as the Crogs began charging again.

--

In the skies, Evika wished that she didn't return the goggles. The rain still flooded the air to make it seem like her eyes were dipped underwater. At least her clothes didn't get wet and heavy; the shield armor had long ago solidified and became fully formed.

"How are you two doing?" she yelled to the two behind her, voice whisper-like in comparison to the weather.

"Just fine. Although an Earth umpella wouldn't be abandoned right now," Zaviroa bellowed back.

"Umbrella," Evika corrected, "And they're too flimsy for this."

"Does it matter?" asked Nairnè. "Let's just keep looking for Sicila." As she finished, though, a bolt of lightning lit up all their faces as it flashed somewhere close by, thunder tearing their ears apart as it followed the energy.

Evika gritted her teeth. "I hope she is struck by lightning before we find her."

"I wholeheartedly agree."

"And the opposite to us, of course."

--

Sicila sneezed. "Must be the weather," she mumbled, wiping a soaked sleeve across her face.

Fifdien shivered beneath her, battling the rushing winds and water as best he could. But why was his rider so desperate to get closer to the fleet of Crogs some distance ahead? Was Zaviroa really willing to go hand-to-hand?

Then someone called out from below him. Someone familiar… "Fifdien! Where are you?"

Zaviroa? He was sure that it was his voice, but if he was down there…

Sicila's stomach lurched as the nauraya suddenly flew in a dive bomb, twisting in a corkscrew and wriggling in all directions. "What's the matter with you?" she screeched, holding onto the saddle for dear life. It was by chance that in all the tumbling and pelting rain she saw the bright red-laced-black carapace and a deep lilac one behind it. "It's them," she whispered.

Cursing, she pulled at her pocket to draw out a shining, soaked transmitter, the back inscribed with the three blades of the Crogs. Linking it to the captain of the fleet, she scanned her eyes to open the line, trying to get a tight grip on it at the same time. "They're here! Trace my signal and you'll find three colors: yellow, red, and purple. Fire on the red; the princess is on it!"

From below, the small trio on Jordyn also saw the bright yellow flashes of Fifdien thrashing around, trying to dislodge his rider. "It's them!" shouted Zaviroa. "Hurry! They can't get away!"

"The way Fifdien's acting, do you think Sicila can do anything right now? But we should hurry," added Nairnè.

"Good idea," Evika said. "Zavi, you ready an arrow just if we get close enough. Nairnè, you go get a support spell ready; if we miss and Zavi shoots Fifdien—"

"Hey!"

"I said _if_ he does, we could prevent a bad fall."

"Okay."

"Oh, and Zavi? I'm going to charge Sicila and try to get her into the air, so keep an eye out for that chance, okay?"

"Of course," he said, drawing an arrow and nocking it. "I'm going to make her pay for all this."

"Good…to know, but we need her alive. Aim so that it would pierce her in a place that's painful, but not too serious. Then I'll take Jordyn, the lilac one, to catch her and take her to my parents. Agree?" Zaviroa grumbled loudly, but he gave his word that he will spare her. "For now," he added.

"At least that's set. I'll see you after the eclipse," smiled Evika, leaping backwards onto her nauraya and flying forwards.

Seeing their friend leave, Nairnè and Zaviroa looked pointedly at each other. "You start preparing, I'll notch an arrow," said Zaviroa, sighing with already-surfacing regret.

"Don't worry; you're the royal weapons master, for goodness sakes."

"Swords master," he corrected. "It's a large difference."

"They do the same thing, nonetheless."

Zaviroa couldn't reply to the truth.

--

"Change of plans; the blasted girl's on the purple one," Sicila spoke into the transmitter as she spotted the exchange of riders not too far from where she held Fifdien immobile. She cursed, though, as no reply came through the soaked device.

More profanity spewed from her mouth as she quickly undid the freeze-move spell to make room for a new magic. As Fifdien slowly regained use of his limbs, Sicila took a sharp crystal she stashed in her robes and plunged it into the nauraya's back, right where the wings joined the body.

The air shook violently with the horrific screech as she quickly withdrew the bloody gem and magically fused it into her own back. Slowly, the lively beetle began losing altitude out of a sudden exhaustion while its rider took that energy and molded it into inky-black wings, abandoning the royal creature for the incoming fleet of Tridents.

Evika saw the entire thing. "Nairnè, save Fifdien!" she bellowed as hard as her lungs let her. She needn't have worried, though, since Zaviroa was doing the same from a foot or two away from his friend's cousin. Ears tingling from both voices, Nairnè quickly let her spell go and created a net of air underneath the falling nauraya. She and Zaviroa quickly flew to Fifdien's side as Evika flew on, closing in on the speck of black flying to her masters.

"Sicila, you're going to pay!" she screamed as the last of light disappeared from the heavens. Beyond the clouds, the moons were totally overshadowed by their planet. The Black Moon was complete.


End file.
